This month we challenge you to a digital detox. Start by turning off the tv, then pen a postcard instead of an email, postpone your phone calls or leave the laptop out of your leisure time. Aside from the constant ringing, tweeting and flickering that’s interrupting our lives, all this internet shizzle is changing our brains. “Technology is rewiring our brains,” said Nora Volkow, one of the world’s leading brain scientists. Constant bursts of information are not just disrupting in themselves, they’re undermining our ability to focus even when we’re not online.
So shut it all down, give your brain a break and tell us what happens (on a postcard of course).
Excellent idea. I know my brain is rewired and I’m becomming increasingly dumb as I hopelessly struggle to do ten e-things at once. Today’s Today programme (on the electronical radio this morning) had a piece about how someone has recently discovered that we are all, in fact, utterly unable to do more than one thing at once. Multi-tasking schmulti-tasking, in other words. Although I was looking for clean trousers at the time, so I _think_ that’s what they were saying.
Anyway, another reason to go light on your technology is rather less self-centered and is explained here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brooke-smith/hello-im-a-mac-and-heres_b_617256.html. Yes, it’s war and other terrible things in the Congo. This is a bad thing.
They link to a campaign (www.raisehopeforcongo.org) where you can see a few things to do about it all.
I love the term digital detox! Nice and insightful post on decluttering one’s day to day life.
I am totally with you on the whole idea of digital detox.
My challenge however is whenever I am able to shut down and get off my brain for a while I don’t want to go back and have a hard time getting going again at work.
Hard to know what the balance is, but some down time is necessary to avoid total zombie-dom