Comments on: Practically Unplugged

By: Justin Snyder

Justin Snyder — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:26:22 +0000

Amen! No social media first thing in the morning is a must. My morning routine is drink water, stretch, coffee, prayer, Bible, journal… THEN get to work and jump on the technology. If I start with technology first thing, I'm cranky all day.

I heard recently about a local pastor who is being heavily criticized by his congregation because he is always on his iPhone. If we are not careful, we will miss what is most important.

By: James

James — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:53:14 +0000

As I read this blog on my iPhone at 4 in the morning it strikes a chord in me. God has been showing me all these distractions I have, since the start of Lent this week. I’ll choose to unplug myself from the vacuum of the Internet this Lent and probably discover it’ll be better for me in the long run. Thanks for posting thins, I’m going to go delete some excess from my iPhone. God bless.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:38:01 +0000

About once every two weeks or so I'll intentionally leave my laptop at home. This habit started by accident, but it led to a practice that truly helps me focus on what is most important. The temptation of facebook, twitter, etc aren't staring me in the face as directly and removing those temptations helps me to focus on those days.

By: Kathy S

Kathy S — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:55:14 +0000

I have been feeling very convicted about this especially after I, in a discussion with the Lord, asked Him why I didnt have time to juggle everything. He showed me clearly- I do! It is the choices I make that affect my time. Great article! So important for us to step back to simplicity, as life was intended.

By: Practically Unplugged (via CollideMagazine) – times of disconnect in a connected world « Cooper-ation | Resourcing Your Ministry

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:42:57 +0000

[...] in a tent, try some of these very practical ways of balancing a “connected” life. Practically Unplugged Posted by Scott McClellan on February 17th, 2010 at 1:40 [...]

By: ScottMcClellan

ScottMcClellan — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:47:05 +0000

Thanks for the perspective, Stephen! And welcome back!

By: proctor

proctor — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:57:05 +0000

I just got home from spending time in another country…. let's just say it was a "3G dead-zone"…so no Twitter, Facebook or email on my phone….plus, phone calls were practically out of the picture b/c of high int'l rates (yeah, i know i could hack my phone and get a different sim card…but why?)

I love taking these opportunities to be unplugged…but let's face it, i was forced to be unplugged. Before, I had taken days here and there where I deleted all the social media apps from my iPhone for a day, even once in a great while I'd leave my iPhone at home and go walk in the woods. I love these times… and this grew my love/hate relationship w/ social media and the "Matrix" of life/work.

As I've come back, I've decided that I am going to be more in control…and not allow all the busy hype of the internet & our christian subculture pester me all day long.
- I have deleted all social media apps from my iPhone…and they are going to stay deleted for as long as I can help it.
- Twitter/Facebook will only happen in short spurts…and only when i'm on my laptop…which honestly isn't that much each day since i'm always on the go and out on the road…
- I'm also not reading as many updates as i normally would (yeah, i'll probably be out of the loop on things…but who cares) … this also has involved deleting a few blogs out of my bookmarks/reader… nothing against those blogs, it's just stuff that's become noise to me and has distracted me from what i need to be focused on…. obviously, this blog is one of a small handful that I kept and check every day.

I find that this is helping me to "react" less and less things (usually somewhat petty things that seem important at the time)…and it's creating more space in my life to see the bigger picture and learn how to "respond" to it.

At lunch the other day, after church, about 20-30 minutes in, I pulled my phone out to check the weather or see who the "ding" sound came from…. my friend (and old roommate) said "so, how's Twitter?" … I just answered back "I deleted twitter from my phone." you could have heard a pin drop.
probably proof that I need to be a little more unplugged these days.

great article…it's very timely and full of wisdom that everyone in this audience needs to hear.