Every week we remember that the most important thing about technology is that it has an off switch.—Tiffany Schlain
I used up one of my Audible credits this week to download the new book 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week by filmmaker Tiffany Schlain. I first encountered Tiffany’s work through The Webby Awards…she founded The Webbys in 1996. They’re still going strong today. When I started giving talks about Mindful Digital Life in 2016, I always included Tiffany’s Tech Shabbat as one possible model for families to explore and pointed people to this little film on the topic from her series The Future Starts Here (from waaay back in 2013. Who remembers AOL?).
So…I was really happy to discover that she’d written a book about her family’s adventures with unplugging a day a week (published September 24, 2019). And I was even happier to find that she’s the reader on the Audible version (I love author-read audio books). 24/6 distills a decade of wisdom gained in practicing their “tech shabbat” and includes a step-by-step guide for trying it out in your own family. Books about tech and the family can be pretty dry. Not this one. You’ll see when you watch the short video in the link above that Tiffany has a great sense of humor. She brings her storytelling superpowers plus a depth of experience and insight from her own tech-centric career.
(And lest you’re beginning to think I just sit around reading all the time, I cleaned my kitchen and cooked for the week ahead while listening, and yes, I had quite a pile of dirty dishes to get through.)
What’s Next
Half-Earth Day 2019. E.O. Wilson is coming to my neighborhood! I’ll be attending the Half-Earth Project Educator Ambassador Institute learning about their state-of-the-art interactive tool for mapping the world’s biodiversity. I’m excited.
