Friday May 25, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Disconnecting in a too-connected world

By Barbara Ortutay

Commentary Jun. 17, 2011 - 07:14AM JST ( 22 )

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22 Comments

0

goddogJun. 17, 2011 - 11:43AM JST

Sounds like you had a very stressful weekend, and your Monday will be horrible with all that mail waiting for you.

Get rid of facebook. It is wasting your time.
0

cleoJun. 17, 2011 - 11:49AM JST

I wonder if those were vegetarian marshmallows, and if so, where can I get them?
0

timeonJun. 17, 2011 - 12:12PM JST

sounds more like a brainwashing yoga camp to me...
0

Zenny11Jun. 17, 2011 - 12:19PM JST

Places like that are becoming more and more common, needed as people need to wean themselves from being connected 24/7.

Don't have to be yoga either(granted it is big now).
0

chuckbelloJun. 17, 2011 - 03:32PM JST

Is there a retreat like this in Japan. No cell phone connection? I went to an onsen in Gunma, The place was majestic and I had a great time but I still had to answer my cell phone.
0

Stranger_in_a_Strange_LandJun. 17, 2011 - 03:40PM JST

@Chuck Bello

A friend of mine went once or twice to zen meditation week/2 week resort near Kyoto, I believe.

Not only no cell phones. No sound. No talking at all. All day meditation. His complaint was that the people weren't silent enough. People clearing their throats once in a while, etc...
0

Zenny11Jun. 17, 2011 - 04:17PM JST

chuckbello.

Just turn it off and tell your company/friends that you will be unavailable.

Used to be the norm at companies where I worked that if you were on a course or on leave no-one contacted you, but alas no longer it seems.
1

smartacusJun. 17, 2011 - 04:30PM JST

I find it weird that so many people can't go a day without their cell phones. I grew up in an era when there were no cell phones, Blackberrys, Internet, email, iPods, etc. We managed just fine. We were just as busy, but our lives didn't revolve around gadgets. But then I guess my parents and grandparents said the same thing about TVs.
0

Zenny11Jun. 17, 2011 - 04:37PM JST

I am with you smartacus.

Surviving fine without a cell, etc. If I want peace I turn off the PC and switch on the answering machine, I get back to you at my convenience not yours.
0

lucabrasiJun. 17, 2011 - 04:46PM JST

I grew up in an era when there were no cell phones, Blackberrys, Internet, email, iPods, etc. We managed just fine

But, but...how did you send your tweets?
0

Zenny11Jun. 17, 2011 - 04:48PM JST

Who wants to be a twit tweeting another twit?
0

Zenny11Jun. 17, 2011 - 04:48PM JST

And that being a joke.
0

Spidapig24Jun. 17, 2011 - 04:49PM JST

OMG no cell phones, how did you communicate with your friends when you werent home. No internet, how did you download movies and look at um hmm. No email, oh crap how antique is that. How did you send jokes to people. And no Ipods, sh** what did you listen to on the trains and when you where walking around.... How scary
0

lucabrasiJun. 17, 2011 - 04:51PM JST

@Zenny

Agree utterly, to tell the truth. Never tweeted in my life :)
0

Zenny11Jun. 17, 2011 - 04:57PM JST

We didn't download and "look at um hmm" we actually did it for real. :P Like we did other things in person and if a guy got funny he faced the music(ie punches, beat-down).

True we had some magical devices called a walkman, radio, etc.
0

Spidapig24Jun. 17, 2011 - 05:02PM JST

Zenny11,

Sorry, l was just taking the p. Im not that young that l dont remember pre ipod, mobile days. It just sounded like one of my fathers when l was younger speeches which normally end with me saying "yeah but this is the 21 century not the 18th....
-1

Zenny11Jun. 17, 2011 - 05:11PM JST

No prob. See you on the other site.
0

FoxieJun. 17, 2011 - 06:41PM JST

What a ridiculous story! No one is forcing to tweet you all day long. Rich, spoiled people who don't know how to live, pretty pathetic.
0

SousukeSagaraJun. 18, 2011 - 08:00AM JST

If I were cut off from the internet I would be extremely bored at work.
0

littlebirdJun. 18, 2011 - 03:04PM JST

Lovely idea, but recently I want my phone near me just in case of an earthquake. Probably not anything a New Yorker worries about. Nothin' like Living on the Fault Line...
0

AirBetweenTeethJun. 19, 2011 - 08:12AM JST

This woman is a living, walking cliché. A (no doubt cosseted and pampered) Manhattanite with a penchant for Southern vampire fiction, the obligatory iPhone references when there are numerous other brands with exactly the same functionality, the weekend yoga retreat in the mountains . . . I can't believe AP paid for this pap.

We lay on our mats, listening to the softly tapping rain and chirping birds and complied. We breathed.

Oh puhlease
0

mikeinhachJun. 19, 2011 - 12:57PM JST

Try to separate a Japanese teenager with their cell phone and they will go into shock! Hell most of my students can't even put the damn thing away during class. I really wonder what will happen to them when they get into the real world and can't be checking their mail every few minutes. Or maybe they will and they don't give a damn.