On weekends I rarely look at email.  My computer is turned off.  Maybe you’ve discovered this if you try to communicate electronically with me on weekends.  My family and real life take front and center. Yes, I may miss important messages, but I also gain something much more vital: thinking, focus, fun, physical activity and LIFE.

I’ve learned I’m not the only one.  Taking a break from the computer life even has a name: Internet Sabbath.

The simple fact is computers and gadgets distract us.  They fragment our brain and make us constantly interruptable.  We confuse what’s urgent or immediate with what’s important.

Taking a break is essential.  It reminds us how full the world is (and used to be) before we spent so much of our time in a screen world.  Taking a break models a balanced life for our children.  It’s slower, less cluttered and richer.

If you haven’t read some of these thought-provoking articles (warning: might take some focus) take a look here.  How college students are learning to meditate to counteract their digital, multi-tasking existence (Chronicle of Higher Education).  How multi-tasking actually creates mental dead space, not increased activity as we shift from one task to another. Support for Unplugged Sundays and the addictive nature – not of the machine – but of human beings ourselves (The New Yorker).

Walden Pond on a summer day

As a parent, I need to interact with my children in the real world.  Computer skills are quite easy to learn.  Human skills are not.

As a writer, I need focus and solitude with my thoughts and writing to produce stories and ideas worth reading.  Once the book is written, I can use social media tools to spread the word about it, but I can’t write it in the first place with a cluttered, distracted mind.

Do you find yourself spending more time with internet ‘friends’ then lifelong friends you care about?  Do you feel distracted?  How would you create unplugged time during the week?