Offline Fasts for Clarity
In this world of powerful, always-on connectivity, with constant RSS streams of media battling for our eyeballs, with content moving off the television and onto our portable devices, it becomes easy to forget that all things digital have an OFF setting, and that occasionally, it might be useful to exercise that option.
What would a day offline look like for you? For one, you wouldn’t have to check your multiple email accounts (work, home, organizational). You’d skip your RSS feeds for an entire day, missing your chance to learn of yet another fourteen great hacks to make time more plentiful and meaningful to yourself. You wouldn’t be able to Google for the answer to basic questions, such as the birthdate of Dr. Phil (September 1st, by the way). You couldn’t check in on any auctions for authentic Victorian electric toothbrushes. You wouldn’t be able to see what YouTube was serving up as the most recent example of humanity’s greatness, and you wouldn’t be able to drop 99 cents into the till at the Apple iTunes store for that song you’ve had stuck in your ear all day.
What would you do instead? What part of your life remains untouched by the web? Could you equally shut down the cell phone for the day? Let’s include your television, the radio, and any other device that communicates to you. Remove all the signals. Clear everything out of the environment that will try to push more information in your direction. That means missing a day of the Times and the Journal, too.
Are you twitching yet?
I offer that there’s something to consider in this experience. Further, I’m curious as to how this fast might impact your ability to be creative, your relationships with the people in your house, and the way you use media in a given day. It might just be one of the more radical life hacks we could offer up. The physical world, your inner thoughts and feelings, relationships with others in close proximity, are all things that are easy to bury under the constant burst of information that faces us day to day. How could you hack this to your advantage?
–Chris Brogan writes about self-improvement and creativity at [chrisbrogan.com]. He is twitching.
Tags: 
Loading ...
Comments
inkling says on May 6th, 2006 at 7:16 am
I call these “media fasts” and you reminded me that I hadn’t had one in a while. You only twitch for the first half hour, then the digital DTs fade away.
One danger is that during a break from playing with the kids, or yard work, I unconsciously sit down at the computer before I remind myself that a fast is in progress.
Another tweak I need to make is to refuse book-reading during this time. Paper pages are still media, but by nighttime I have always caved to picking up a good book. I insist on non-fiction since David Allen or Seth Godin will put me right back in work mode.
My goal is a little broader than the fast, though. I want a monthly day where I take little to no input and focus on output. On doing rather than on being entertained. And on giving rather than taking.
Thanks again for the timely reminder!
David Iffland says on May 6th, 2006 at 7:34 am
I have a dream of walking over to the circuit breaking and flipping the primary shutting everything electronic off in the house. This is problematic because of the fridge.
I don’t have the guts to do it often enough, though. So during the thunderstorms of Spring, I hope that the power will go off and I’ll get my wish.
The silence is deafening.
Anas hashmi says on May 6th, 2006 at 8:00 am
I just love this idea. Once my internet connection went down for a whole week because of some problem at the network along with my curious tweaking of the modem. This happened during the weekend. It was amazing to live without the internet.
I noticed my life became more productive than anything. I got more work done around the house and I got done with my tasks. I became more social. I became exposed to the natural world.
I love the idea of a media fast. What would my life be filled with since the internet will no longer exist (for that particular day)? What will I be doing? Where will I invest my time? These are all questions we do not have answers to. So SAD!
Scott Young says on May 6th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
I often have a period of several days where I have no computer access at all every few months. Life gets a lot quieter when this happens.
Adam Khan says on May 7th, 2006 at 6:07 am
Orthodox Jews do this every Sabbath. No creation. That means, for example, no electricity. You can’t even turn on a lightswitch. Sometimes this gets absurd, people shouting up and down to each other to get into apartment buildings, but apart from the problems at the fringes, it does create a day that’s different from others. No riding in motorized vehicles either. I’m not sure about bicycles.
citizen Able says on May 9th, 2006 at 12:19 am
My family has instituted a “no-machine” day once a week (usually Sunday). No X-box, game-boy, tv, internet, etc. Radio is OK. We’re not fanatical about it.
A lot of online time is wasted when you could be reading, puttering, hiking, cooking, fixing things up around your place, or tinkering.
A Lien says on October 10th, 2007 at 3:21 am
WiFi reception is nonexistent in my campus dorm room; I have to be literally wired into the net [shed a tear for me, please].
A day offline, even without the computer, greatly improves the efficiency and quality of my studies. Once I realize I’ve visited my local hangouts a dozen times each in the last 10 minutes, I literally tape the end of the cable to the wall and write “DO YOUR WORK” on the tape.
It’s worked well so far; I know I will soon ignore my own warnings and will have to resort to other methods (e.g. locking up the cable and giving someone else the key – my stomach churns at the thought).