Shutdown Day
This post was inspired and created after reading and commenting on Michael Kwan’s blog post. In it, he talked about one of the ill trappings of modern society - net addiction, and how people treat the Internet as if their lives depended on it. That led me to embark on a little research on the topic, which eventually cumulated into this post.
International Shutdown Day is back for the second year running, this time on 3rd May, 2008.
Shutdown Day was founded with the sole purpose of spreading awareness about the pitfalls and dangers that lie in the excessive use of television, computers, and computing equipment like game boxes, cell phones, music players, online social websites, etc. that impinge on social space and interaction amongst our communities.
That means no television watching, no computers, no Wii gaming, no blogging, no twitter, no IM, who can stomach all that and still remain sane in this Internet age?
The idea of Shutdown Day project is simple - just shutdown your computer for one whole day of the year and involve yourself in some other activities: outdoors, nature, sports, fun stuff with friends and family - whatever, just to remind yourself that there still exists a world outside your monitor screen.
Because we have become so accustomed to a life dominated by our computers and the Internet, we sometimes forget there is a beautiful world waiting for us to enjoy outside the computer screen.
In a personal capacity, I fully support this crusade and have pledged to shutdown my laptop and get disconnected from the web on Shutdown Day. That means no emails, no blogging, no IM, no twitter, no Youtube, - get totally unplug.
As much as I applaud the founders for starting this movement, I must say one of the points in the “Take Action” page had me scratching my head in wonderment.
Aren’t we suppose to shutdown our computers on Shutdown Day? Then why are the founders asking us to “Register online on Shutdown Day”? I really can’t reconcile with that point.
Can you survive for 24 hours without your computer? If you are brave enough to take up this challenge, go pledge your support for the cause to pull the plug – at least for a day. It’s time to hit the beach and ride the surf!
yes, it doesn’t make sense to register and start searching for events online! Look through newspapers and community notice boards for such events - just not on the internet … thanks for sharing betshopboy - you wont see me online on May 3rd
interesting…May 3rd is a Saturday I am usual out and about anyway ^_^
Don’t think I can survive without the internet. It has become an obsession =|.
[...] inspired by one of my posts, responding with a blog post of his own that highlights the upcoming Shutdown Day 2008. I was also one of the winners of his recent ad spots giveaway, so be on the lookout for [...]
Yes, I’ve survived without my computer and the internet on a school camp that was 5 days long. I can probably even go longer - it’s not a huge obsession for me - I try not to make it one. Thanks for the post.
Yea but not being on the computer is like saying don’t go to your job.
And also chatting and email is a way to socialize with other people. What can you do for a whole day if no internet or computer or tv? Hrm….that means no movies. I mean there’s the gym which is a few hours, or going to work then sleeping.
[...] getting unplugged and going “cold turkey” on Shutdown Day, I power up my laptop with child-like glee and logged myself into the World Wide Web hoping to find [...]