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    Categories: CultureMedia Usage

Special Series: Unplugging from Technology 2015

Every device needs a reboot every once in awhile, human or otherwise.

That’s what the National Day of Unplugging is about, prompting us all to take a technology break to slow down, connect with loved ones and reset ourselves a little.

This year, the day was sundown March 6 to sundown March 7, advocated by Reboot and the creative project called “The Sabbath Manifesto,” designed to “slow down lives in an increasingly hectic world.”

Each year, it feels just a little harder to unplug, but perhaps that’s why we need a day like this even more each year.

At MediaShift, we take the National Day of Unplugging as an opportunity to expand our regular coverage of technology and media with a special series that looks at what it means to unplug from all of those things and how that works (or doesn’t) in our everyday, technology-filled lives.

Enjoy the series and shoot us a line if you have something you’d like to contribute to the series.

2015 Series Posts

> Tips for Unplugging from Tech to Reconnect with Family, by Tanya Schevitz

> Life-Changing Family Ritual: Weekly Unplugging, by Tiffany Shlain

> How to Unplug Your Kids Despite Schools Pushing Tech with Common Core, by Jenny Shank

> How a Plugged-In College Student Spent 24 Hours Without Tech, by Emily Skorin

> Why It Takes More than Unplugging to Solve Modern Stress, by Amanda Enayati

> An Experiment in International Travel and Disconnecting from Tech, by Dena Levitz

 

2014 Posts

> Celebrate Day of Unplugging with Nap-In, Typewriters, Live Music, by Angela Washeck

> Tips for Unplugging and What to Do Once You Do, by Tanya Schevitz

> How Do You Unplug When You Live and Work Online? by Dena Levitz

> A Special Mediatwits Podcast on Unplugging, by the Mediatwits

More Reading

Check out these previous MediaShift articles about unplugging and taking Technology Sabbaths:

> Nicholas Carr’s ‘Glass Cage’: Automation Will Hurt Society in Long Run, by Jenny Shank

> Mediatwits #139: Finding Work-Life Balance with Technology in the ‘New Slow City,’ by Jefferson Yen

> Hands-Free Parenting: How Much You Gain When You Unplug, by Rachel Stafford

> In Political News, There’s a Fine Line Between a Well-Informed Public and an Overwhelmed One, by Mark Hannah

> Why We Need a Technology Sabbath, by Tanya Schevitz

> 5 Tips to Prevent Digital Burnout and Maintain Good Mental Health, by Sandra Ordonez

> Mediatwits #52: Special Edition: Unplugging from Media and Technology by Mark Glaser

> Why We Need to Teach Mindfulness in a Digital Age, by Aran Levasseur

> 5Across: How to Deal with Technology Overload by Mark Glaser

> Technology Sabbath Offers One Day to Unplug, by Mark Glaser

> Your Take Roundup: We Need to Learn How to Unplug, by Mark Glaser

> A Moment of Unplugged Zen Poolside, by Mark Glaser

Other coverage across the web

> Father-son videos make a case for National Day of Unplugging, Chicago Tribune

> Keep it charged: The case against the well-intentioned but misguided National Day of Unplugging, National Post

> A Tech Sabbath offers a chance to unplug, recharge at the Oregonian

> I Need a Virtual Break. No Really at the NY Times

> Sabbath Manifesto

> We Don’t Need a Digital Sabbath, We Need More Time at The Atlantic

> SPU students take a break from technology at Seattle Times

> Remember the Sabbath? at the Guardian

 

Correction: This post has been updated to correct the days for the National Day of Unplugging this year.

Courtney Lowery Cowgill :Courtney Lowery Cowgill is a writer, editor, teacher and farmer. As an editor, she's the former managing editor of MediaShift. As a teacher, she's an visiting professor at the University of Montana School of Journalism, specializing in feature writing, legislative coverage, rural journalism and online journalism. Formerly, she was the editor in chief of the online magazine NewWest.Net, which she co-founded and before that, worked as a newswoman for the Associated Press. When she’s not writing or editing, she’s helping her husband wrangle 150 heritage turkeys, 30 acres of food, overgrown weeds or their young children.

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