Comments on: The Unplugged Month: Notes From An Experiment

By: Nick Mackie

Nick Mackie — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:43:12 +0000

You are spot-on. Too many folk don’t take enough time to think – and this includes thinking about their personal lives, let alone giving enough time to their families without a hand-held beeping every 2 minutes.
That said, “plugged” we are – this is today’s reality. Finding a way to manage this, rather than being managed by it is the key.
A new baby, slow VPN connections (I’m in China)and piles of junk mail semi-unplugged me some six months back.
And it gave me the mental space to think about life, my family’s needs, my own skill sets and career path.
A couple of years back, a writer tried “a year without China” – ie trying to live with nothing made over here for 12 months.
Can anyone imagine “a year unplugged” ?
I’m long enough in the tooth to remember sending documents by telex; my first mobile phone was like a building block and it weighed about 5 kg!
Up until the mid ’90′s, I had to file news stories, verbally, to a copywriter over the phone. I then remember marvelling over how a fax machine works. By the mid ’90′s, we had smaller, affordable mobile phones and even (costly) email accounts ! Anyone out there remember their compuserve address ? Boy, this was expensive – we had to pay for our internet connection by the minute !
We had a lot more peace and quiet back in the dark ages – could enjoy a long summer evening dinner without anyone checking up on us.
But tech has made so much in our lives so much easier – and more efficient. We are in danger, however, of letting the beast control the man…or woman !
ALL THE BEST, NICK

By: Dana

Dana — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:27:35 +0000

Nowadays, unplugging is a planned activity and takes some serious courage and control. On the other hand, not unplugging completely from time to time cannot be good for our mental health. And like you said, trying to solve a problem while mired in the midst of it, is just not gonna get you anywhere.

By: Andrew Hupert

Andrew Hupert — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:50:40 +0000

Wow. You missed a BIG month in your kind of US-China stories, so the challenge must have been even tougher.

I’ve been using twitter & linkedin more and more — and I’m just starting to get a sense of how much time has to be invested. I don’t say ‘wasted’ because it can be quite productive — but one has to be aware of the cost in terms of time, energy and (mental) bandwidth.

Thanks for the eye-opening piece. I look forward to reading more about it. (To paraphrase Sideshow Bob — I’m aware of the irony of using the internet to decry it, so don’t bother pointing it out.)

Good to have you back.

-Andrew

By: Aimee

Aimee — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:28:47 +0000

@betsy drager
Betsy,
Thanks for your comment, continued reading and engaging tweets! I wish I viewed this overall journey as courageous- lately it seems more harrowing and anxiety-provoking than anything else. That was definitely one of the reasons I decided to step away from the internet- to have the time to reassess and take a few long, deep breaths. Three years is quite a long time in China; I would love to read your insights and stories online- hope you take the plunge. Your curiosity will lead the way and hey, isn’t it much better to explore and admit to knowledge gaps than to assume the role of “expert”? The fun of it remains in searching for the insights, the answers, the tales. Thanks again, Betsy.

By: Aimee

Aimee — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:59:59 +0000

@Sara Hi Sara, thanks for your comment. If you're serious about taking the hiatus, let me know if you need any further tips. And, maybe you could start an "email free week" trend at work. Wishing you the best; chase the joy!

By: Aimee

Aimee — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:56:52 +0000

@Chinamatt
Hey Matt,
Thanks for the warm welcome back. Are you relying mainly on the internet for your job search? I hope it’s looking up for you and you’re making some progress on the career front. Xinjiang- sounds very tempting. I’m really hoping to get back to China this summer myself and will keep you posted on any travel plans there. Thanks again for your comment!

By: Aimee

Aimee — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:52:45 +0000

@Jocelyn
Hi Jocelyn,
Many thanks for your thoughtful comment; I’ve been enjoying your blog series on cross-cultural romance and look forward to reading more from you!
We definitely have a lot in common and I’m positive we’ll get to have that cup of coffee one of these days.

By: Aimee

Aimee — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:50:00 +0000

@Jeffrey J Davis @Jeffrey J Davis Jeffrey, Thanks so much for your comment and continued reading! I was definitely fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) to have the freedom to unplug, which minimized any risk or fear factor. If you're interested in trying this- even for a week- I suggest approaching it like a vacation. I attempted to let all of my regular contacts know that I'd be offline about two weeks in advance, kept the phone lines open, and set up an inbox alert. Any hey, the running invitation's open. Thanks again!

By: dedlam

dedlam — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:28:14 +0000

It’s interesting to read your post as I haven’t written anything substantial for about a year now and my twitter stream has become a list of links from my Google Reader but it does worry me a little that your time away from social media just led you to non-digital forms of media.

I was hoping to read a little about a road trip or an intimate face to face encounter with someone… perhaps it happened and wasn’t really something for this post. Fingers crossed.

I also have a comment about 140 characters and story telling. Unless you have offline celebrity, twitter is an insanely time consuming medium for story telling but it just means that your persona needs to be linked to a strong and compelling theme. Since the Sichuan Quake my twitter persona is split between a few random unrelated passions and as a result I am no longer able to tell a story because there is no thread between the tweets. It is lucky that you have a personal following and as your blog becomes less China focused people will continue to follow you because of who you are and the quality of your writing. For the less literate (like myself) as I devolve back into digital mediocrity with little direction and even less time to commit to creating that online story, I look forward to being a spectator in your story.

By: betsy drager

betsy drager — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:11:04 +0000

Thoughtful and courageous journey you’re on.
China is never dull and there’s always some aspect to tackle-now that I’ve been here 3 years, it means I still know nothing but want to write about that
Internet feels like lifeline here but hoping to meet IRL many of my Twitter friends this year