April 18, 2008
Movement grows for digital day of rest
"Sharon Sarmiento knew it was time to unplug when she realised she was blogging in her dreams and hearing imaginary instant messages.
For Ariel Meadow Stallings, it was the hours lost while surfing the internet that left her feeling like she had been in a drunken blackout.
Both women are part of a new grass-roots movement in which tech geeks, internet addicts, Blackberry thumbers and compulsive IMers are deciding to wrest back control of their lives by daring to switch off - if only for a day." The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
"... Some call it the "secular Sabbath." For others it is "unplugged day." In Quebec, Canada, professional computer developers Denis Bystrov and Ashutosh Rajekar are organising a global "Shutdown Day" in May.
Stallings, 33, a Seattle author, blogger and part-time marketing manager for Microsoft, made a resolution in January to spend "52 Nights Unplugged" this year.
In an ironic twist, she quickly spread the word through her blog 52nightsunplugged.ning.com and connected with thousands of people across the world who habitually text while driving, take their laptops to the bathroom, or check email during dinner.
"I thought it was just a problem that affected me and my geeky colleagues. But then I started hearing from Italians with similar issues, and Poles and Czechs, and I even got a query from someone in Colombia."
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