I’ve been assigning a “media fast” for several years now as part of the Media & Society curriculum. The assignment provides an opportunity for students to see just how much their lives revolve around mass media, especially electronic media that provides an appearance of being both omni-present and omnipotent. In the past several years, the idea has found more and more proponents and more and more calls urging us to unplug, log-off, and catch our breath.<\/p>\n
The National Day of Unplugging<\/a> is one such effort. With distinctly Jewish overtones, the Sabbath Manifesto website encourages people to, “reclaim time, slow down their lives and reconnect with friends, family, the community and themselves” from “Sundown, Friday, March 4 to Sundown, Saturday, March 5.” You can find their 10 principles here<\/a>, and their YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here’s a video short that also encourages people to take a break from their media-saturated lifestyles.<\/p>\n [youtube=http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yUIZx3OWZh4&]<\/p>\n How about it? Are you ready to go cold turkey?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve been assigning a “media fast” for several years now as part of the Media & Society curriculum. The assignment provides an opportunity for students to see just how much their lives revolve around mass media, especially electronic media that provides an appearance of being both omni-present and omnipotent. In the past several years, the … <\/p>\n