Wellington
Toby Ruckert of
Unified Inbox
had an interesting
(sticK had a blog on an earlier version of Unified Inbox
For a brief period while in Shanghai, he (relatively unintentionally) went back in time 25 yearsor so, where he didn't have a mobile phone or internet connection. In this he found quite afreedom.
Toby's expressed many of the disconcerting pressures and issues that some of us have about alwaysbeing connected, always feeling like you're having to check in to see who has been checking in. Isee some of the same in my own children and their relationship with Facebook, (I'm probably one ofits worst users).
It is not difficult to see why some researchers believe that modern children are having theirbrains rewired differently to how older generations did - a result of all this immediateconnectivity and ability to find an answer to any question straight away.
I thoroughly recommend a read of Toby's blog. He articulates some excellent reasons fordisconnecting for a little bit at least - not the least of which can be summarised as 'sanity'.
There's always a danger in considering the past to have been slightly more rosy-coloured thantoday, but he raises some good points in his discussion.
His blog also points to other examples of people reverting, at least temporarily, to anon-connected lifestyle.
I'm sure that in the not too distant future, doctors and others will thoroughly recommend, if notalmost force, all of us to have a break from always being on. In the meantime, thanks Toby forhighlighting the Power of Un-Location.