Unplugged.

Was a time this meant Eric Clapton on acoustic guitar, MTV getting a second go at rock guitarists without amps and pulling the cord from the kettle. Today the unplugged movement is about quiet, it's about no interruptions and it's about non contactability. Like the slow food movement, evoking long lunches under the Tuscan pines with unlimited vino, unplugged is all about taking back what has been taken away, time. Time taken up by the myriad of tech toys and applications overwhelming many to the point of exhaustion. Digital detoxing is a movement gaining focus for many who can't shake the need to turn off, not just the Angry Birds or Candy Crush but the work and social connections, that have become ubiquitous in our lives.

Used to be holidays and travel disconnected us all, with only the lonely postcard as a tether to home. Times have changed and today it's not about the physical freedom from work but the mental freedom to not feel obligation, to not feel the need to connect that finds people looking for WiFi free destinations. Once found the "cold turkey" of disconnect leaves many in a sweat thinking what others are saying about them on Facebook. As drastic as total escape sounds, there are other ways to ease into more control and it can start as easily as leaving your charger behind on a weekend trip, this will surely focus your energy on only the most important matters to conserve that all important battery.

If you can't unplug from your email list, can't resist tweeting, poking, liking, posting, instagraming, tagging, commenting or pinning, it begs the question about how self absorbed you are and how unconnected you are from real life? Unplugging relies on alternatives, you will have to talk with people, maybe shake hands, certainly have a discussion over a meal and maybe even have time to exercise, read a book and rejoin society. Ask yourself, "what's the worst that can happen, if I unplug for a while"? Maybe start with a morning or better still an afternoon, after all, research shows us 3pm is the lowest productivity period of the work day, so what are you doing online?

Why not show total commitment and your undivided attention and stop taking the phone into meetings, take your best friend at work to lunch and talk about your social life without referring to the social APPs and consider doing your body a favour with some exercise, it's much harder to answer the phone when you are out of breath? Why not steal a pen from office stationary and start prioritising the activities list giving you the most freedom from technology and try and integrate one each day.

Unplugged brought a whole new meaning to high octane rock and roll and it can mean as much if you can only turn off the automatic synch to Assassin's Creed, Clumsy Ninja or Bloomberg News and hide those gadgets for a while. To some it may be death, for others it may just be faking death but once you broadcast your intentions, you'll be surprised how many join you in your commitment. I'm not dead, I've just stopped tweeting for a while. :-)))