Day of Disconnect - October 4, 2014

[Meganium]

https://www.dayofdisconnect.com/

This movement is dedicated to establishing October 4, 2014 as the first annual global Day of Disconnect. No calls, no texts no emails – an all out e-communication ceasefire.

Too many of us are chained to our smartphone, always looking down and never fully present. The sad truth is that it's no longer culturally acceptable in most professions to say "I'm not available," even for a day. It's time to give ourselves a break.

Submit your name on our website to pledge to participate, and we will keep you updated as the movement progresses. We look forward to disconnecting with you.

A friend of mine just linked me to this via text, and I wanted to share. I do admit that there are days that I just rely so much on text messages, emails, phone calls, Twitter, Facebook, any other social media and basically anything that requires data to communicate. At first I was a bit...skeptical about it, but a day without any form of wireless communication is not really enough. I've gone months without internet before.

However, it would be nice to leave our smartphones on charge for a day. Leave it out of reach unless if there's an emergency. One day wouldn't hurt, right? Would anyone join this cause? Or does anyone think it's a load of you-know-what? Share your thoughts and discuss! We're a month until the 4th.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Nope. Lol. I understand the ideology behind it, and in theory it's a cute idea. But our society has just followed a trend of evolution of technology, hence the position were in right now. If this was an actual thing that everyone followed annually, it could be actually catastrophic. What if there was an emergency? A fire? A mugging? How would businesses operate if they need to communicate with other industries? It's a nice idea, but it's not practical.

I think the movement in itself is tackling this issue the wrong way. Instead of just saying "no cell phone usage" for a day, instead the movement should focus on shutting your phone off when your hanging with others, eating dinner, or other social gatherings so one can focus on what's happening around them and be engaged in conversation. It should be promoting these kinds of attributes and focusing on limiting it instead of outright cutting it for a day. But hey - that's just an opinion coming from a guy who sees this problem happen way more times than I can count.

 

[Tsutarja]

My definition of disconnect is not using the internet at all on a computer, in lieu of using a mobile device.

October 4th is a Saturday after all, so it should be easy for me to theoretically disconnect for a day. Would I do it though? Possibly not. I have homework that is done via the internet, and it's simply a habit of mine to check online everyday.

 

[Lusus]

Nope. I don't use Facebook, i don't use Twitter and i don't even use my smartphone (it's pretty much an alarm clock to me). Only online communication i use is Skype, and cutting my internet to not talk to the people i rarely even talk to is not worth it. I have been without internet for months before without any impact on me anyway, and i will probably need it for high school assignments, so yeah.

I would love seeing how my mom would handle a day without her phone though, she is literally never not talking on the phone after she comes back from work. Then again she would probably watch the television the entire day.

 

[Incinermyn]

I'm disconnected every day I'm a work, but I have to say I'm opposed to it. I generally will take long breaks from the Internet during the week because I have better things to do than be online all day long; however, I'm not about to disconnect entirely just because some stupid movement wants to take us back to the 1990s (I grew up and loved the stuff we did without Internet in the 90s, but this is too much of a throwback that I'm unwilling to participate in because others want me to). If I disconnect, it's on my own terms.

 

[Juno]

Much as I like the idea, I'm not comfortable leaving my phone for a day, because, as others have pointed out, it doesn't seem practical to disconnect from my main means of communication just in case something does happen.

Personally, I don't think I go overboard with the smartphone thing anyway, most of the time I do just use it as a phone and to text, and even then I'm not glued to the screen while I'm crossing the streets or anything. Also, my dad was very strict about 'no phones at the dinnertable' when I was younger, and I'm glad to say it's actually stuck with me all these years.

I think disconnecting from the internet for a day is a more sensible and doable approach. c: Like Zack, all my classes do have some sort of online component, but surely a day won't hurt. Maybe. I dunno, October's gonna be a busy month. :P

 

[Emboar]

I don't have any major social media accounts, but I still couldn't do this.:P

 

[Dustmop]

I don't use Facebook, Twitter, or frankly any other kind of social media, save for a couple forums that I'm not completely inactive on. This one included. :P
My phone, albeit a smartphone, is of almost no use to me. It's been 'broken' for months (the 'home' and 'back' buttons don't work, nor does the slider keyboard) so I can only text my boyfriend without restarting my phone or navigating by notifications.

But I still wouldn't do this. I can only submit my homework online, and by October I'll be onto my new classes. I can only communicate with my teachers via email or the school forum. My mom only works on Saturdays, what if something comes up?

I'm all for limiting usage in social gatherings, like Matt said. Even when my phone worked, I typically ignored it when I was out with friends. Obviously not in cases of emergencies, but I'm not disrespectful enough to stare at my phone more often than the person/people I'm with.
And that - I could get on board with.
But as far as I see it, all of these "don't use water/electricity/your phone for x amount of time on x day" events really aren't the best way to tackle the issues behind them.

 

[Candy]

What no. Look, having a day of disconnecting won't solve everything. They'll all end up checking their phones 24/7 (not literally) after the day is over.

There's also a slight problem with the fact that technology has advanced so much, that everything has to be done through the means of the internet. I mean, all my class schedules, homework submissions, and even communicating with my colleagues in college is done using the internet. I miss one day, and whoosh, I miss a ton of information.

It's really sad tbh, but before college I get to choose between my laptop and my lovely books, but now I have no choice but to keep this thing open for all the school work and submissions I have to do.

 

[Meganium]

Unless if there's a really good reason for us to leave our phones behind i.e. more physical social interaction, then I'd do it. To be quite honest, I'm mostly alone and recently I'm not at my house like I used to anymore, so I gotta keep in touch with the family in case of emergencies. Next year when I'm moving, I gotta have a phone with me no matter what.

For me, I'll end up not participating. I can't go a day without responding to a text. I'm an addict with a hard time beating the habit, ya know what I mean?

 

[MKGirlism]

To me, "Disconnect" = use nothing related to Electrics, including Lights, Microwaves, Cars, etc.
In today's life, nobody can live even a moment, without Electricity.
Without Electricity, you can't even enter many of today's Buildings, basically.