{"id":4156,"date":"2011-11-02T05:24:06","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T22:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/?p=4156"},"modified":"2011-11-02T05:25:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T22:25:00","slug":"shout-challenge-can-i-unplug-for-an-entire-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/shout-challenge-can-i-unplug-for-an-entire-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"SHOUT Challenge – Can I Unplug for an Entire Weekend?"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Lori Cunningham<\/span><\/p>\n

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I remember the day I received an email from the SHOUT team asking me if I would be interested in participating in an Unplug & Play weekend<\/a>. \u00a0UNPLUG???? \u00a0Did they mean not using my gadgets while they are charging??? \u00a0I could do that. \u00a0No. \u00a0They meant no tech the whole weekend…seriously? \u00a0Why did they have to ask me, a tech blogger? \u00a0I don’t typically write about household cleaning products…unless there’s a tech bent. \u00a0So why me? \u00a0Do they realize it would take me nearly 10 minutes to shut off all my gadgets? \u00a0Well, a slight\u00a0exaggeration…but only slight.<\/p>\n

I had a similar sick-to-my stomach feeling a couple of years ago when AT&T approached me with the idea of “losing the laptop,” not using my laptop for 4 months…and instead use the new Tilt 2 phone with sliding keyboard. \u00a0I thought they were crazy. \u00a0But I did it, for the most part. \u00a0Mind you, using my desktop PC was Kosher. \u00a0My hard work paid off and won me the $5,000 grand prize, so I’d say it was worth my effort.<\/p>\n

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To be honest, I don’t know why I said yes…I guess because of the challenge…and to see if I really could “unplug” for an\u00a0entire weekend. \u00a0There’s no cash reward prize, no bonus, only the delivery of SHOUT product to help clean up any grass stains from the park during the unplugged weekend.<\/p>\n

Now mind you, I’m not the only ultra-plugged person in my family. \u00a0My kids consider themselves well connected as well. \u00a0At a recent visit to my brother’s house, the first thing that popped out of my 5 year old son’s mouth was…and I quote…”does this place have WiFi?”<\/p>\n

I’m always sharing time on my iPad 2 with my kids. \u00a0After all, they are running a hotel for pets, a pet store, a zoo, managing 26 Smurfs and their gardening efforts, and taking care of a couple of online dogs. \u00a0My kids are busy. \u00a0So you see, if we all unplug, who will feed the pets? \u00a0How will I break the news to them that they can’t visit their pets for a whole weekend? \u00a0It’s bad enough I have to deal with my own feelings, but the kids detachment emotions too? \u00a0Uggghhhhh. \u00a0And my husband, does this mean no TV? \u00a0No easy feat.<\/p>\n

As it is, the challenge is supposed to be from Friday – Sunday, but I cut it back a day. \u00a0Tech bloggers shouldn’t be held to\u00a0the same standards as other subject bloggers when it comes to unplugging tech, don’t you think? \u00a0(OK, I know I’m going<\/p>\n

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to get some flack for that!)<\/p>\n

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When I started to think about how I would unplug, I figured it would be a good time to go outdoors and review the new Wi<\/a>Fi\u00a0helicopter\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0I saw at this year’s Toy Fair<\/a>\u00a0that allows you to control it with your iPhone or iPad. \u00a0But then I thought about it, darn. \u00a0Even though it’s an outside activity, it still uses technology. \u00a0 OK, hopefully we can try out the new kite in the garage we’ve had for a couple of years.<\/p>\n

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At dinner, I broke the news to my family. \u00a0I tried to break it to them lightly by promising fun activities we would do\u00a0together like flying a kite (admittedly, my kids have never flown a kite…I know, bad me), riding scooters in the park, going on a family hike, etc. \u00a0My daughter was sold right away. \u00a0My husband didn’t say a word, just smiled. \u00a0My 5 year old son broke the male silence by saying, “are you crazy?” \u00a0He did not want to participate.<\/p>\n

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OK, I know many of you are thinking, enough already. \u00a0You’re kidding, right? \u00a0Well, sort of. \u00a0I’m pretty… well…connected…hence the name of the blog. \u00a0Nonetheless, I’m up for the challenge and looking forward to “unconnecting” with my family this weekend. \u00a0Wish me luck!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been asked my SHOUT to “unplug & play” for a whole weekend. Will this wellconnectedmom be able to go a whole weekend without technology???<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,14,20],"tags":[934,935],"class_list":["post-4156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gadgets","category-moms","category-technology","tag-unconnected","tag-unplug-play","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/11\/2313557.jpg?fit=240%2C162&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}