By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -
Sharon Sarmiento knew it was time
to unplug when she realized she was blogging in her dreams and
hearing imaginary instant messages.
For Ariel Meadow Stallings, it was the hours lost while
surfing the Internet that left her feeling like she had been in
a drunken blackout.
"I think there is some common-sense part of us that says,
'Wait a second. This has gone too far. We are too plugged-in,"'
said Sarmiento, a 30-something virtual business owner and
professional blogger in Alabama.
"It's like our mind is going in a million different
directions all the time. So taking a day when you are
completely cut off from technology forces you to re-engage with
the real world," she said.
Some call it the "secular Sabbath." For others it is
"unplugged day." In Quebec, Canada, professional computer
developers Denis Bystrov and Ashutosh Rajekar are organizing a
global "Shutdown Day" in May.
Stallings, 33, a Seattle author, blogger and part-time
marketing manager for Microsoft Corp, made a resolution in
January to spend "52 Nights Unplugged" this year.
"I love technology. I'm not a Luddite. But I realized it
was a problem when I would sit down to check my email and it
was almost like I would wake up six hours later and find I was
watching videos of puppies on YouTube.
"I'd try and think what I had been doing for the past two
hours and I had no idea. I associate that kind of time loss
with blackouts when you're drunk," she said.
So Stallings took the plunge, accompanied by twitchy
emotional withdrawal symptoms, and turned off her computer,
email, cellphone and television on Wednesday nights.
In an ironic twist, she quickly spread the word through her
blog (http://52nightsunplugged.ning), and connected with
thousands of people across the world who habitually text while
driving, take their laptops to the bathroom, or check e-mail
during dinner.
"I thought it was just a problem that affected me and my
geeky colleagues. But then I started hearing from Italians with
similar issues, and Poles and Czechs, and I even got a query
from someone in Colombia.
"So I realize it's not just an American problem but an
international one," Stallings said.
THOU SHALT UNPLUG
Dr. Dave Greenfield, who runs the Center for Internet
Behavior in Connecticut, said most people thought it was a joke
when he first started warning about compulsive Internet use in
his 1999 book "Virtual Addiction."
Greenfield said various studies estimate that 1 to 10
percent of the U.S. population uses technology in a way that
negatively impacts their lives, relationships, health or jobs.
"It is very unusual for somebody to present for help
without having been dragged there by a parent or loved one,
unless they have gotten in trouble with the law or with their
job," he said.
"The collective denial that any culture has around new
technology takes a long time to erode," Greenfield said.
Sarmiento, who writes a blog called eSoup
(http://www.esoupblog/), said she has taken up painting
again and become involved in volunteer projects since beginning
her own "digital day of rest" two months ago.
Now she sometimes unplugs for an entire weekend. "I had to
work up to that," she admits. "It is nice. It feels like you
are going on a little retreat. It has opened up more quality of
life for me."
"I have dream blogged. I have surfed the Internet in my
dreams sometimes. If I start hearing imaginary incoming message
chimes on my computer when I am out in the back yard, it tells
me I have spent too much time online," she said.
She looks forward to when technology catches up to the need
to unplug. "There will be phones that let you say you don't
want to hear e-mail after 5 p.m. or on Sundays," she said.
"A lot of time you have nothing to show for hours spent
online but a hunch back and a sore butt."
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eddie Evans)
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