The Gift of Shutting Down? May 3rd

Can you ditch your computer this Saturday?

Ashutosh Rajekar and Denis Bystrov's 2nd annual global Shutdown Day returns for another round this May 3rd. There isn't much time so get ready! Doesn't this sound like an updated version of those national turn off your boob tube (TV) days when families were supposed to get together and have a real sit down dinner? While those have vanished the good intentions of this latest social experiment may be losing steam as well. Last year over 50,000 people signed up according to Reuters and as of now, a tad over 12,000 have taken the pledge... so why are they doing it?

"...if people are using computers to waste time on social networking sites or trolling the Internet and "basically finding an excuse not to socialize, then we believe things are not going well,computers, televisions and electronic gadgets [are] having a negative impact on society."

They most certainly have a point there. Being that Shutdown day is on a Sat., it only seems natural to want to give it a go. This is really the start of the open air market, antiquing and the social season in general so I'm sure you all already have plenty of plans anyway. 24 hours though?

For more information and to sign up to join in visit the official website shutdownday.org.