I've heard a familiar story from several of my friends over the past year..."I just need to take a break from social media."

Needless to say, there has been a seemingly inordinate amount of hot button topics arise in the past 12 months about which everybody and their grandmother has an opinion.

But not just everyday, run-of-the-mill opinions. Very STRONG opinions. The ones that lead to huge arguments with total strangers. And then you're left with the thought, "I don't even know this person; why am I doing this?" Yes, I'm speaking from experience. Guilty.

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A National Day of Unplugging

This Friday is the National Day of Unplugging. And it's set aside for the first weekend in March. It's a chance to get away from the "noise" our devices can bring into our lives that we absolutely don't need. It's a great idea, but, for me--and maybe others--there's a snag.

It's 2021, and I actually need social media for my job. Well, you're reading this on some kind of a device, aren't you?

But, I guess, if you DON'T need your smartphone, iPhone, or computer for work, you could make it happen.

Ironically, There's a Website for It

Now, the National Day of Unplugging actually has a website where I learned they have these cell phone "sleeping bags." They're just little drawstring pouches where you can keep for your phone for the required 24-hour "shutdown." But if they REALLY wanted us to go cold turkey for a day, they'd use those things my sister and I encountered at Prince's Paisley Park studio in Minneapolis a couple of summers ago.

Prince Protectors

Tourists are not allowed to take ANY photos inside the studio. And to make sure we don't, they have these padded containers where we put our phones. Then they lock them up and give them back to us. And then they're unlocked when we leave. It's a very clever way to maintain their restrictions AND not have to worry about being responsible for someone else's property. I'd show you a picture of one, but, well...if I'd taken a picture of it, very well-dressed and friendly security guards would have briskly escorted me to my vehicle.

Anyway, happy National Day of Unplugging. If you make it through 24 hours device-free, let me know how it went.

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