Do you remember what life was like before Facebook and YouTube? It might be time to revisit those days.
This September 2nd, you can join other techies around the world in taking a quick (probably much-needed) internet fast. The Reconnect Project hopes to challenge those of us who spend hours a day online to step away from the computer and create something, or simply engage in reality.
"Paint, sing, write, film, photograph," says a promo video for the Reconnect Project, uploaded by Vimeo user © By Jono on August 21. Since that date, the video has been viewed about 3,660 times on Vimeo and loaded over 12,000 times via Mashable.
The project's page on Facebook states the following mission:
"Prove to yourself and each other that despite immense technologies, a massive saturation of information and a distressing lack of originality, you can still create something wonderfully original and then share it with the universe."
Those who are able to go internet-less for the day are then invited to enter back into the digital world September 3 and upload any creative, original content they produced during the online blackout.
For many of us, a day without Internet will be a huge challenge. A previous Mobile Mindset study conducted by Lookout found that 58 percent of U.S. smartphone users check their devices at least once every hour. Another 40 percent admit to checking their phones while on the toilet, and 54 percent look through their phones while lying in bed.
Could you last a day without going online? Is the art of "creating" in danger because of the amount of retweeting and reposting we do? Let us know your thoughts about disconnecting from the internet and reconnecting with reality in the comments section below. Then read up on how to take a break from tech, or flip through the following slideshow to learn how the world's most wired people unplug.
