unplugged
Work
Go Laptop-Battery Only This Weekend
5:15AM Gina Trapani | Blogger Erin Doland wanted to cut down work time on the computer over the weekend without going cold turkey, so she did it by limiting herself to only as much time as her laptop battery lasted. The self-imposed limitation forced her to only do the stuff on the computer she absolutely had to, and had her checking the battery charge throughout, and closing the lid as soon as she was done. (The editor at Lifehacker AU had a similar experience recently.) If you’re a laptop user who finds yourself getting sucked into checking email or mindlessly working on days you’re supposed to be off, hiding the cord might be a good way to trick yourself into stepping away faster. Photo by airgap. Work life creeping into personal life? Try a battery-only weekend [Unclutterer] More »
Unplug for a “Secular Sabbath”
6:50PM Gina Trapani | Self-described “techno-addict” Mark Bittman (who sleeps with his laptop on his night table to check email first and last thing) decided to unplug every weekend for 24 hours, a day he calls “secular Sunday.” At first the experiment made him twitchy and nervous, but over time, he came to enjoy his unplugged day. He writes: I would no more make a new-agey call to find inner peace than I would encourage a return to the mimeograph. But I do believe that there has to be a way to regularly impose some thoughtfulness, or at least calm, into modern life—or at least my version. Once I moved beyond the fear of being unavailable and what it might cost me, I experienced what, if I wasn’t such a skeptic, I would call a lightness of being. I felt connected to myself rather than my computer. I had time to think, and distance from normal demands. I got to stop. Like other geeks, on my recent vacation I also found that unplugging does bring about a calm you can’t find in your RSS reader. Good night, secular Sunday. See you next week. I Need a Virtual Break. No, Really. [NYT via steverubel] More »
