Group urges unplugging to take back Sabbath

As the story goes, God spent six days creating the world and then rested on the seventh day. He told the Jewish people to always rest on the seventh day of each week, which was to become known as the Sabbath for them for eternity.

This was before Facebook, Twitter, BlackBerries and iPhones, of course. Adam and Eve didn’t have friends who would get upset if texts weren’t returned promptly, parents who wanted to know where their children were all the time or bosses who had complete access to their employees via work-issued devices. There is no excuse good enough to ignore the boss, even on a weekend.

But one group is trying to take back the Sabbath: Reboot — a nonprofit organization aimed at reinventing the traditions and rituals of Judaism for today’s secular Jews.

Composed of Internet entrepreneurs, creators of award-winning television shows, community organizers and nonprofit leaders, these “Rebooters” are people who typically have their cell phones glued to their palms. Several of them go so far as to say they have an addiction to their devices.

But this weekend they will be observing 24 hours of freedom from their devices: a National Day of Unplugging lasting from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.

I think this is a great idea, and it is one that I try to follow every Sunday. One of the great ironies of the more “connected” world we live in is how disconnected technology can actually make us. The constant stream of information we get via email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, TV, etc. makes it more and more difficult to connect person-to-person with those around us – our families, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors. But direct, face-to-face contact is still the highest, most “real” form of human contact possible (why do you think you can’t go to confession via the phone or email?).

Modern technology is not evil, but as fallen human beings we can easily distort technology and become controlled by it. Taking one day off from technology – like the members of the “Reboot” organization – is a wonderful way to ensure that we control technology, not the other way around.