Truth-telling time :: I haven’t left my Haus in nearly three days.
(Shh. Don’t tell mom. She worries, you know?)
Thing is, I’ve been busy. With back-to-back VELOCITY sessions. And laundry. And baking. And not getting scorched by record-breaking heat, blown away by gnarly wall-clouds, or swirled up by feisty tornadoes. Minnesota in the summer, man. It’s like The Wizard of Oz. With fewer munchkins.
I’ve also torn through books 1 & 2 of The Hunger Games trilogy. And I’m listening to book 3 on audio-book, as I type. Fill up the ears, free up the hands. That’s my plan.
Why am I telling you about my youth-fiction addiction? Or my chores? Or the weather?
‘Cause hermitude is the theme. And I’ve got a proposition, for you.
JULY 20 – 25. You got anything going on?
I do.
A 5-day digital sabbatical, spacious vacation, and summer retreat, all rolled into one.
Calendar = cleared. Clients = alerted.
My Rules of (Dis)engagement are as follows:
:: Laptop = shut. (Putting it in a box, locking it tight, and mailing the key to my Arch Angel of Accountability.)
:: Phone is getting shut off, too. (If there’s an emergency, send a pizza delivery, or a singing telegram.)
:: No TV. (Not even Netflix.)
:: Snail mail = YES. (Like it’s going outta style.)
:: Music = allowed.
:: Silence = encouraged.
Guys?
I’m terrified.
I’m not even sure who I am, without my tasks ‘n to-dos. Without my morning inbox, full o’ praise & proposals. Without the validating nods of the Internetz. Without my work. Ew. Squick.
I reckon I’ll find out.
Wanna find out with me?
You don’t hafta to go full-on Thoreau, like yours truly. You could choose one block of media to black out, for 5 days, or less. A Twitter holiday. A voicemail hiatus. An inbox escape-chute.
A single screen-free day. Even that’s mega-thrilling.
If you’ve got your fist in the air, I’d love for you to sketch out your very own Rules of (Dis)engagement in the comments below. Declare. And commit. For five days. Or…a bit.
Looking for a list of offline inspiration, so you don’t go bonkers with boredom? Look no further.
Want to proclaim your media freedom?
Badges are the new black, y’know.
Yours, in disco monkdom…
Top o’ the post artwork by the incomparable Aurora Armijo — it’s an illustration of my Woke Up Knowing experience with Dyana Valentine. Foxes, femurs and fragmented genders. Oh yah. It was rowdy.
I’m with you in Hermitude. The pup thinks 70 is scorching so now that it’s 80, I can barely get him out of the yard.
I’ve been thinking of doing an at-home Rally, but this might be better (suited for summer). I’ll do the 22nd. Phone = yes, I mostly ignore it anyway. But internet/email = no. Actually, computer = no so movies = no by default. Camera = yes. Ice cream = yes.
Brava!
I’ve been wanting to do a digital vacation for a long time now, and I’ve been afraid to do so. I know, I know, I need to work on that, fear of the unknown, etc. blah blah blah.
Will you be blogging about the results on the 26th so wimps can feast on the insights, and perhaps trigger an impetus to take a virtual risk?
I’m sure you’ll do great! You’ll be surprised at how easy (and how much nicer) life without all your electronics is!
Pinky promise not to make fun of me, but this is basically how I live all the time (though not nessecarily by choice). I live in my own apartment (I’m only 20) so I don’t exactly have a job where I get extra cash to through around. So I have no internet, and no cable. We both have phones but texting/calling is usually just emergency texts/calls from parents.The boy and I occasionally watch movies, but most of the time we read or go to the beach. Or go to the beach and read. Or play board games in the park. See concerts. We always just do outdoor things together, and when night falls we make dinner and put on music and just chat or dance around the apartment like crazies. It’s wonderful.
So best of luck to you! I hope you get a chance to experience how awesome the world still is without all of our fancy toys!
I recall the idea for this coming together in our call many months ago and its so exciting to see it happening now! Count me in for the inaugural day – media/phone free :)
ELIZABETH :: Right on! Ice cream + cameras – Internet = a lovely at-home rally. I’ll be thinking of you, on July 22. Sending vibes in advance…
A.Y. :: I will totally post my digital sabbatical reactions, though not necessarily on the 26th. Might take a minute to percolate my thoughts, and learn how to type again (ha).
STEPHI DEE :: No fun-poking at all! Back in 2005, when I was studying in New Zealand, I had no phone, and very spotty Internet access. And…I read a lot more. Wrote a lot more poetry. And had a lot more spontaneous social encounters. It’s a lifestyle I want to reclaim — at least in part.
NATANYA :: Yes, ma’am! I just realized — we need some kinda symbol or badge for this thing! Getting’ on that. Right now.
Part of this five day sabbatical lands on a conference that I had to attend which originally made me bummed…but after thinking about it a little bit, I realized that a few days spent rubbing shoulders and getting to speak with influential, powerful people about global issues and the dynamics of leadership is the PERFECT time to be disconnected from impersonal, digital conversation.
I’ll have to take the time to rekindle our penpalship (I know it isn’t a word, but it should be)
Sometimes I wish I could.
Work requires I’m on the computer…but at least…I could promise to shut my damn laptop before 9pm every night? Because who needs to work 24-7?
Not this kid.
TARA MELISSA :: Ooh, in-person networking! How retro-chic! You might enjoy my list of 100 alternatives to the dreaded question, “so whadda ya do?”
http://bit.ly/irMiKv
JUSTME :: Laptop shut at 9pm is totally hot. Do it!
No lie, this sounds terrifying. Five days sans laptop? *Shudder* I’ve been glued to this thing for…how many years now? Almost four?
I may be putting off the electronics vacation until early August for practical purposes, but what a lovely (albeit nerve-wracking) idea. Really, it’s just silly how attached I’ve become to these things!
PS — nothing wrong with a little hermitage time, especially when you look at it as a self-pampering session :)
Fuck yeah this idea! I am so excited.
guuuuuuuuuuuurl you know i’ll be der, who knows maybe i’ll even come visit you during this! if i can! if i could… hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm good talk today on phone. mwa. p.s. ma told me to read your blog to understand how you make bank mula. p.p.s. when are the unicorns coming? to steer us into socialism? why isn’t this a bigger theme of yuur blog? title lies! p.p.p.s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny3Ovx7Zzuk
CLAIRE :: When you lock down your digi-break in August, lemme know. I’ll send you a psychic text message, for support.
ANASTASIA :: Fuck yeah indeed! Glad you’re on the bandwagon.
MISS OLIVIA :: Child, the unicorns are coming. Like the Rapture. Come visit. Love thee.
Ooh, I love!
I do this when I visit family (they don’t “believe in” the internet (or Netflix. Or movie theaters!), so it’s best I disengage from it), keeping only occasional smart-phone check-ins.
Your sabbatical covers some time I’ll be in Chicago for a wedding, so I’m IN for July 21st-24th.
-no laptop (leaving it at home)
-no email (turning it off my phone! horrors!)
-only using phone to google-map myself to the Art Institute and other fun spots, take pictures, tweet the photos (but no reading the stream…I think I can even turn this off hootsuite!)
This is thrilling + titillating. It means that I’ll actually BE in the car with my honey for a 12 hour drive. Not distracting myself with OPT (other people’s tweets). Hope to sketch + journal even more than usual and let the inspiration of a new place soak in.
Hmm… sounds wonderful. I’m actually leaving for a 2-week road trip up the Northwest coast on the 18th… so, here will be my rules for those entire two weeks (July 18 – August 1st):
:: iPhone only for communication, not distractions (calls & texts allowed, games & Tweets are not)
:: 1 hr of laptop time per day, MAX – just so I can keep up with my internship & upload photos
I’d rather spend time doing things like writing in my journal or admiring the grocery stores (!! dork alert) of places like Seattle and Vancouver. :)
TARA :: I considered using my phone solely for directional purposes, but then I thought, NO! I’m going cold turkey. Shakes, night sweats & all.
I applaud your Rules of (Dis)engagement, though. Bravo!
DANIELA :: Admiring grocery stores is dork-tastic. Especially stores in…other cities.
For those of you who still need the internet for work etc but don’t want to be checking Facebook/Twitter etc try this;
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/
Block certain websites at certain times of day so no cheating!!
I am still a little bit wussy to be doing though…. sorry, maybe some day!
Good luck though!
When I told someone I was thinking about giving this project a try, she said, “What are you going to do instead?” and after thinking about it for a moment, I was all, “Um, everything?”
So count me officially in. Except for when I’m at work. Which is only a total of 12 hours during that time.
GEORGIE :: Love the pro-active cheating preventer!
ANN :: “Um, everything” is right! You go. OFF.
I honestly don’t know if it’s possible to disengage entirely. Breaking contact with my parents probably isn’t practical, for one thing, or losing access to the weather forecast, or not being able to get directions to all the places I’d go while on sabbatical. So I’m thinking I’ll do the five days with you, but allow myself one hour in the morning to do the necessaries. After that? On my own.
Brillz. This actually happens for me when I go visit my dial-up internet parents. Built in hermitude!
I’m in! I will definitely be offline for the full 5 days. Phone will be reserved for emergencies and my closest inner-circle (it’s off most of the time anyway). TV off. Maybe even lights off for some of the time! I’m excited.
This is super brave and I am looking forward to the results upon Resurrection!
Hey! I just discovered your site through many other links, and it’s exciting to see that you did an offline thing, because I did that for myself a few weeks ago, too. And it was really refreshing! It’s great to be away from technology for a while. (:
Pingback: The Well-Fed Woman: Alexandra Franzen | Rachel W. Cole