Nelson List archive

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Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:50:49 -0700
From: John Griffin <johngriffin@[xxx]>
Subject: [NL] Are you strong enough?

Posted by John Griffin for your consideration:

'A day without the Net' - Michele Mandel, Calgary Sun, Mar. 4, 2007

For just one day, could you unplug?

Could you tear yourself away from e-mail, could you stop surfing the
net? Could you abandon your computer for 24 hours and actually come up
for air?

Two 20-something men in Montreal are challenging the world to do just
that and it's a dare that is sweeping the globe. They've declared
Saturday March 24 International Shutdown Day and are asking all of us
all to temporarily sever the ties that bind us to our artificial brains.

"It is obvious that people would find life extremely difficult without
computers, maybe even impossible," Denis Bystrov and Michael Taylor
acknowledge on the web site (www.shutdownday.org) they set up just two
weeks ago. "If they disappeared for just one day, would we be able to
cope? Be a part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to place
on the Internet."

The idea was the brainchild of Bystroc, a 29-year-old computer
programmer from Belarus who was lamenting the lack of time he had to
spend with his 10-month-old son. "I'm working so hard that I have no
time to play with him so I'm thinking. 'What's going on? Let me take
just one day," he says in a telephone interview from Montreal.

"We are not saying that computers are bad or the Internet is bad. No.
We're just saying that maybe there's something better, something more
interesting we can do in our life."

Taylor initially thought his friend's proposal would never compute. But
the British stock trader, here on an extended holiday to visit family,
decided he'd help Bystrov set up a web site to see if it garnered any
interest.

To their surprise, the idea for a global power down has spread like a
bad computer virus.

It didn't hurt that their hilarious Shutdown video -- all the sports you
play with your laptop while it's not in use -- made it to the top of
YouTube. A Google search now yields 1.9 million hits and it's been
cited on more than 1,600. international blogs.

The debate is on. The Japanese and Germans are huge supporters, they
say. They've also done interviews in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Spain,
Turkey and the United States.

It's hit a cord with many who realize that perhaps they've been spending
too much of their leisure time with guys named PC or Mac. "There are
definitely people out there who are addicted," say Taylor, 27. On the
occasional weekend I'll realize I've spend the day on my computer.

Bystrov is equally guilty. "My laptop is always turned on."

So far, more than 24,000 have pledged to log off for the day, whole
3,500 say they just can't do it. "I have no shame to say that this is
impossible for me to shut it down." writes Persiana in Tehran, "as it's
more than just a machine to me."

In our house, the reaction has been mixed.

The husband declares it a stupid idea as he stand before me in his
typical pose, pretending to listen while his eyes never stray away from
his BackBerry (Are crackberries included?)

The oldest teenager dismisses it out of hand, his gaze glued to his
computer screen as he simultaneously juggles his MSN, Facebook, NBA 2006
game -- oh, and an essay outline. The two younger teens declare it no
problem. They boldly plan to pick up those books they've been
neglecting and actually call friends rather than talking online.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Personally, I'm all for turning off, tuning in and dropping offline.
Now if only I still had that old typewriter.

michelle.mandel@[xxx]
or 416-947-2231
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Nellie Sherraden (Ainsworth Pioneer) Website:

http://www.geocities.com/riondel2000/

Kootenay Lake Ferry (stories and photos) Website:

http://www.geocities.com/kootenaylakeferry/



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