Unplugged: How to Live Mindfully in a Digital World

by Orianna Fielding

Put down that smart phone! All too often, we allow digital life to overtake real we use devices to entertain children, and ignore our friends across the table to look at a (probably meaningless) e-mail, post, or text. Unplugged helps you disconnect and regain a healthy balance between your human relationships and technology. It includes step-by-step plans for minutes-long, hour-long, day-long, and weekend detoxing programs; interviews with celebrities like Arianna Huffington (founder of The Huffington Post ) and Lewis Lapham (founder of Lapham’s Quarterly ) who have addressed the issue; and “mindfulness” techniques that teach you how to manage your online world in a healthy way.
 

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2015

Reviews

[Emma Sea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty good in terms of types/lengths of detoxes, and goals for while foregoing the online world, but bloody light on strategies to address the addictive desire to "just check in once." The book would have been a lot more useful if it replaced the section on the "Top Digital Detox Retreats" with a section on information addiction. The chances of me spending a week at the Six Senses Yao Noi on a private island in Thailand or the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok are slim to none.

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

True title of the book - Unplugged: How to Live Mindfully in a Digital World.

[Ajit · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a book I needed to read. And it was also was a book I wanted to read.

I found the writing style to be unlike what I'm used to seeing in books. At times it felt like I was reading a blog or online article, written by someone who doesn't seem to actually be very online (from the way she introduces terms or concepts, as if it was her first time hearing about it, too).

In terms of substance, I found the information shared to be generally useful. I acknowledge that the book was written almost a decade ago at the time of this review, and technology evolves so quickly that much has changed since. In fact, our addiction to technology is even worse now, with the popularized short video format affecting our attention spans. Some of her advice may be slightly obsolete (e.g. Apple's iOS now has a 'focus' feature that allows managing and restricting notifications and app access to be easier), while others seem more extreme than they may have been in 2014 (e.g. printing maps to ensure you can meet a friend at a location without having to use a phone to get there).

I also found a few things somewhat contradictory, such as suggesting that we could listen to our favorite song during our alone time away from devices. Using what? In the streaming era, there are few other options to get our fix of music. I found the list of apps and links at the end to be a bit ironic too, even if helpful. Perhaps her intention was to provide us with different options so we can choose how we unplug?

If she were to rework this book and publish an updated version of it, other than catching up on the technological advances that have taken place since then, I would suggest she clarify on whether she wants the reader to be able to live free of technology, or to be able to be in control of it. To me, moderation is being able to use my phone to get directions and text a friend that I'll be late, but also turning my notifications off once I get there, giving them my full attention.

Overall I found the book helpful as a first step to evaluating our relationship to technology, but it shouldn't alone be a one-stop guide. It is up to us to decide how we move forward, based on our individual circumstances.

[Richard Angelus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm very interested in digital psychology and the impact of digital technology on our mental health for many years now (for book and TED Talk recommendations, see lists below). And thus, the research studies and the author's personal experiences, although some of the ways she processes the information are unique, are very familiar to me. But it's good to be reminded over and over again about the dangers of digital addiction and how to overcome it. "Connectivity now permeates every area of our lives," admits Fielding, an internationally recognized designer, and curator, "Technology has enabled us to do things that ten years ago were unthinkable. It has also completely changed many of the elements that historically formed the foundation of how we lived and interacted with each other, increasingly adversely affecting the most essential and fundamental elements of being human."

To read further, CLICK HERE: https://legasitv.blogspot.com/2021/05...

[Brittaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the theme, but I found it fairly preachy. Most of the first part of the book was spent admonishing the potential reader for their technology addiction and explaining how bad it is for you. Which granted, is true. But personally I already knew all of that, and I didn't need any more judgment about it but rather some solid strategies to get through the desire to check my phone every two minutes. The plans at the very end of the book are useful however, so if you already know that too much tech isn't great for you then skip ahead to the end and hopefully you can find something useful for how to scale back.

[Elif · Rating 4 out of 5]

The case study of the professor putting all distractions away to be fully present with his student really resonated with me and captures what being "unplugged" really means. She is not necessarily urging us to live in the dark, but to practice mindfulness and to better our real-life relationships and most importantly, to better ourselves.

[Sifa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The intentions stay true. She explores all of the digital life impacts possibility, from our connection with nature, people, work-life balance, and our own feeling and emotion. She also put some tips and tricks to apply on our daily activity, which is very helpful: yoga snack, detox prep.

The only things I wanted to know since the very beginning of the chapter is how it is implemented and how it will really affected people's live. Most of the time, knowing people's experiences is much more valuable to make us more attachable to the idea.

[Aron Darovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little boring in the middle, but if you want the actual "plans" for digital detoxing, look towards the end of the book

[Syed Hussain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to start the journey of unplugging. It will give a good start and can raise many questions/situations in the mind that will require more work.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

unplugged says it all put it on your coffee table, very cool.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reminder of what's important.