75 Eastern Michigan students disconnect for National Day of Unplugging
Ryan Garza, Detroit Free PressMedia ecologist and journalism professor Christine Tracey of Eastern Michigan University led her students in a campaign to unplug on March 1, 2013. “Unplug EMU” was covered by a variety of local news organizations, including this story at AnnArbor.com. The event was “a big success,” Tracey said.
Disconnected: Three Students, One Month, No Computers
A documentary produced by students at Carleton College who tried to unplug for three weeks as a class project. Will they resist temptation, or will they cheat? (What would you do?) You can watch the trailer here via YouTube, view the movie on Hulu, or purchase the DVD from the college bookstore.
The World Unplugged
This study led by University of Maryland in 2010 found that college students on five continents found it difficult to unplug—but when they did, they felt more peaceful, invigorated, happy, liberated, focused, and creative.
Twentysomething “Goes Amish,” Unplugs for 3 Months
Jake Reilly, a grad student in Chicago, avoided cellphone, e-mail and social media for 90 days in his “Going Amish Project.” The experiment took Reilly, 24, from his normal life of following 250 people on Twitter and sending 1500 texts per month to using courtesy phones at a nearby hospital and writing chalk messages on friends’ sidewalks. He credits the project with making him