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TO EDUCATION, NATIONAL, AND TECHNOLOGY EDITORS:
Would you? Could you? Eastern Michigan University's media ecologist
invites you to 'unplug' your cell phone
YPSILANTI, Mich., March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- How many
times do you touch your cell phone each day? How many text messages do
you send? And, more importantly, what are you missing because your
life is so heavily mediated by technology?
If you're too in love with your smart phone, Netflix, or iPad, try
experimenting - just for a day - with unplugging. Friday, March 7,
2014 is the fifth annual National Day of Unplugging, when the
technology-driven stop for a moment, put down their devices, and
unplug from sundown to sundown.
Reboot, a national group of artists, conceived of the National Day of
Unplugging five years ago to encourage hyper-connected people to
ritualize a day of rest. Find out more at
http://nationaldayofunplugging.com
Eastern Michigan University Professor Christine Tracy, who teaches a
media ecology class that explores how we interact with the media and
how it affects us, is urging the EMU and surrounding communities to
take a digital day of rest.
"We all need to wake up and become more aware of our mostly
unconscious dependence on technology," says Tracy. "A day-long respite
is just the first step toward more enlightened use of our digital
tools."
Media ecologists are interested in the role technology plays in human
life and how media and communication processes affect human
understanding.
"Smart phones are good things, but we become 'dumb' when we allow them
to over-mediate and control our waking realities," says Tracy. "It is
important for us to get a glimpse of who and what we could become
individually and collectively when we abandon technology and put down
our devices - even for a day."
Tracy is the author of "The Newsphere: Understanding the News and
Information Environment," (Peter Lang 2012). The book studies how
consumers can combat disillusionment with today's news, which is often
so dramatized, commercialized and packaged that it is no longer news
and certainly not journalism.
Tracy teaches Digital Journalism and Media Ecology classes at Eastern
and holds a Ph.D. from Rensselaer. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
For further discussion, visit Tracy's website at www.ournewsphere.com.
"The Newsphere: Understanding the News and Information Environment" is
on sale at Amazon.com.
SOURCE Eastern Michigan University
-0- 03/06/2014
/CONTACT: Geoff Larcom, 734-487-4401, glarcom@emich.edu
/Web Site: http://www.emich.edu
CO: Eastern Michigan University
ST: Michigan
IN: MEN EDU HED ITE
PRN
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0000 03/06/2014 15:00:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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