Join the National Day of Unplugging... If You Dare!

This Shabbat has been designated as the “National Day of Unplugging” – no electronics of any kind from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.

And so the question is:

Are you game?

And perhaps more importantly:

Are you really up for it?

Sure, it sounds easy, doesn’t it?
How hard can it really be not to use any electronics for 24 hours? On a weekend, no less?
And yet there you are, Friday night, toying with your phone, and thinking “now, do I really have to turn this off? Maybe just put it on vibrate? For a couple of hours, anyway…”
How many of us can honestly say we wouldn’t feel just a little pause, even at the thought of trying it?
Think of it: no phone, no cell phone, no e-mail, no facebook, no computer, no TV, no Tivo, no DVDs, no Netflix, no XBOX, no iPod, no iPad, no Mapquest, no Google, no radio, even. Nope, not even Sirius radio in your car. Nothing. (I suppose I might be willing to exempt baby monitors. Maybe.)
Most of us are so immersed in our electronics, our gadgets are so enmeshed into the very fabric of our daily lives , that it would be unthinkable to even try to step away. To extricate ourselves.
Some people have even said that giving up their e-mail, their facebook, their phone is the hardest thing they do for Yom Kippur. Harder to give up even than food and water!
Sounds kind of scary when you put it that way, isn’t it?
And so here comes Shabbat.
Meant to be a day of rest. A day of relaxation. A day of stepping away from the daily grind, the daily worries, the daily life, the daily creative work, and to rest, to focus on what’s really important in our lives. Our families. Our loved ones. Our life itself.
And so the question – can we step away from our daily distractions, our daily futz-with-them toys, all buzzing, ringing, pinging at us, and demanding our attention at every moment? Should we?
1,360 people have already made a pledge to try. Right now. Tonight, in fact.
Will you be with them?