How The World's Most Wired People Unplug: 18 Techies Explain How They Disconnect

This summer I am taking some time off down in Key Biscayne, FL, a special tropical island near Miami where I have gone regularly since childhood. I keep active during the day with lots of tennis, exercise, beach and pool time with my family. I try to be somewhat unplugged during these activities, but my iPhone is always within reach if necessary. I catch up on emails when my son takes a nap in the afternoon and at night for a few hours after dinner. The thought of returning to the office to thousands of unread emails is stressful for me, so I prefer to keep up to date in reading emails and responding as appropriate while on vacation.

I have a rule about being present around other people, so I don't have my phone out ever when I am with other people; if I do you have permission to slap me. [The] iPad doesn't work at the beach, thankfully, so I stay unwired there. I spend a lot of time at the park, either Washington Square, the High Line or Hudson River Park, [and] just lay in the grass and relax or ride my bike. I do try to avoid email and everything else on summer weekends, unless something major comes up.

Spending time with the people I love - my husband, our daughters, our family and friends - that's how I unplug and recharge. We try to be as active as possible and it's certainly easier in the summer. When we can we go to the beach, play golf and tennis, and also go out of our way to eat at home together and just play with our four dogs in our backyard. It's just as important to stay connected offline as it is online, and that's what I'm planning to do this summer.

I've been seeing Phish shows, going to Camp Bisco, reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower, listening to the Book of Mormon soundtrack and escaping to the beach when possible.

I've been playing a ton of chess, tennis, exercising, reading books that I've been wanting to read for years, and seeing a lot of live music.

Early mornings are my time to unplug. I typically wake up around 5:30 am or 6, depending on how 'late' my puppy allows me to sleep. I'll take Pepe for a run or to the dog park, where I sit on a bench and watch him socialize; talk to fellow New York dog owners over coffee. It's an eclectic crowd. The conversations are never about technology or venture capital, the disruption of this or that.... they typically revert back to balance of life. I adopted Pepito to focus on something outside of myself, outside of work. Though he is a lot to handle, I feel his routine adds semblance to my own life and makes me more productive at the office.

As much as I love technology, I love unplugging from it more. One of the best ways to absolve yourself of the guilt of being disconnected is to purposely go somewhere with no cell reception. Then you have no choice! It's out of your hands! Almost none of the city beaches have good reception, particularly Ft. Tilden. So I like to gather my crew, fill up a thermos of Skinny Girl Margaritas (don't judge, they're amazing!), grab about 10 magazines ranging from The Economist to US Weekly and plan on a few hours of blissful, unplugged chill out time.

I usually read a book or two a week so getting away just gives me a bit more time to read... looking forward to trying to take some time off this summer but it looks like it's going to be a bit hard! [I'm] in the middle of reading "The Fall of the Faculty" by Benjamin Ginsberg and Paul Theroux's "The Lower River."

This summer I am determined to get my game back on--my golf game that is. I love golf because I get some exercise in, I can unwind, and I get to spend some uninterrupted quality time with my husband. The course I play doesn't allow cell phones, so it provides me a few hours of escape, where all I think about is getting a little tiny ball into an even smaller hole.

I'd love to say that I was heading somewhere exotic for a few weeks, but things at 2tor are as hectic as they've ever been. I've been fortunate with NYC real estate, so I'll probably try to better utilize it by having friends over outside when it's not sweltering. Beyond that, I'll spend a week with my family in New Hampshire, where I'll attempt to unplug both from the internet and alcohol, and sporadic weekends in Montauk, where I'll likely be fairly tapped into both.

I am most looking forward to spending days off in the California redwood forests, a short drive from Silicon Valley but a world apart. The towering hundred-year old trees, running brooks, and soft, rouge earth give me incredible mental calm and clarity.

I'm hopping a flight to Vegas for the mid-week holiday getaway. I'll be crashing, er laying my head, at the Wynn. Before that, I'll grab dinner with most of the Hipstamatic boys at Craft Steak, take in a Cirque du Soleil show, and then hit the black jack tables. And consider my work email disabled as of NOW.

I'm holding down the fort in San Francisco while my favorite Hipstamatic boys party in Vegas, but as they say, while the cat's away, I'll be rocking out at the Young Empires show (up-and-coming indie darlings). Then it's all about some major R&R at Stinson Beach--the local getaway San Franciscans flock to when the sun comes out--to take in some rays and beautiful fireworks.

Relaxing for me is running. I'm training to run across the Sahara, so the heat is a bonus right now. I'm typically upstate running on the trails around Harriman Park. The woods and fresh air help me think through all the opportunities and issues on my mind. Plus when I'm exhausted my mind goes completely blank, which is totally calming for me.

When I went on my vacation last week, I left my laptop unplugged and let the battery run down. That limited me to very quick bursts of access; if I was going to sit there for an extended time, I needed to plug in, and that's when I knew I was breaking my rules. As it turns out, I was away for 10 days, and didn't plug it in until the last day before my flight. It was one of my most disconnected vacations ever.

I love to work and I love meeting entrepreneurs, and new companies really dont take a break for summer, so outside of some SongPop and FreeFlow (they are both pretty addicting), hanging with my family, intense humidity, and eating good food, I expect to meet some very cool companies this summer.

This summer I plan to do a bit of unwinding by reading some good old fashioned paper books. There's nothing like sitting under a tree or on the beach with a great read that has no Internet or battery attached, one in which you can fold the corners over and lose yourself. I have a whole backlog of old science fiction books to get to - Asimov, Wells, and Gibson. Also, I've been practicing the art of "forgetting" my cell phone at home. After the panic settles, it's surprisingly liberating.

I actually just went off the grid for the first time in years. A full weekend without so much as a landline. Felt great, super healthy, didn't miss the internet a bit. Then I got back online Sunday night and realized the internet hadn't missed me much either.