Can you survive without your computer for 24 hours? This is the question that two guys from Montreal have posed to the world, with an event they have organized called Shutdown Day. This Saturday, March 24th, they are urging people from all walks of life to simply turn off their PCs and go outside to throw a frisbee or something instead. Jeez… couldn’t they have at least waited for some decent summer weather?
The motivation behind the event is to get people to stop and think about the role that technology plays in their lives, which is probably a good thing. You might be surprised how many little things you use computers for in your daily life, whether it be looking up phone numbers, movie listings, recipes, or just passing the time chatting on MSN Messenger. It reminds me of that massive Eastern Seaboard power outage that happened a few years back. It makes you realize that life is almost not worth living without electricity!
The Shutdown Day website currently has received the support of over 48,000 people, all claiming that they can and will unplug themselves for 24 hours. My question is, how many of these nerds will truly follow through? It will be interesting to see if web traffic actually drops by any significant factor on that day.
I know that whenever I go on trips, I often find myself experiencing mild internet withdrawal, but at the same time it’s kind of soothing to be permanently off-line for a while. It gives you time to enjoy the finer things in life. As for whether or not I am going to participate in Shutdown Day, well I simply haven’t decided yet. At first I thought maybe I’d get creative and live blog the event with a running journal of my withdrawal symptoms. Then I realized that I’d need my computer for that. Heh. I guess I’m a lost cause. Check out more details at the link below. Fight the power!
Link: Shutdown Day
Well it depends on if there’s something worth doing on that day. Why would you sit around being bored on purpose? Basicly you use the computer when there’s nothing to do in your real life, right? I’ve never experienced somebody turning down a soccer game saying “I have to surf the web at that point.”
Are you kidding? I know lots of people who’d rather surf the web instead of playing soccer.
I see what you’re saying, that it’s all a matter of common sense and that most people aren’t on their computers enough to miss out on other stuff in life. But I think you’d be surprised how many people have trouble staying away from it for just 24 hours.
You could do a blog of the day with a *real* notepad and a real pen and then upload it on sunday. That way you could have your cake and eat it too.
I say go one better! On Monday, scan the notepad pages in and put up the post that way!