The goal of unplug day is for us to (paraphrasing Timothy Leary here) turn off, tune out, and drop off. That is, stop using our cell phones, smartphones, laptops, tablets, PCs, iPods, et cetera, and come back from the virtual world into the physical world where our spouses, children, partners, and pets actually live. For 24 hours, at least, we’re supposed to ignore our compulsions to check e-mail, update Facebook, tweet, text, and pin.

Unplugged Day was created by the Sabbath Manifesto to help those people who suffer from Internet addiction disorder (IAD). Emulating the Lord resting on the seventh day, all work is supposed to cease (“cease” being the translation of the Hebrew root of Sabbath, Shabbat). The 2012 National Day of Unplugging starts at sundown today and ends at sundown on Saturday.

I’m pretty sure I could survive 24 hours without checking my phone, e-mail, or social networks. I’m just not sure that I want to. I have never wanted to experience a “cleanse,” and a “digital detox” doesn’t sound like much fun either. I’m the person who reminds other people to take their chargers on vacation and not to leave packing their gadgets until the last minute. I don’t stay at hotels without Internet. Heck, I check to see if my two-hour airplane flight offers Internet access. When I want to “get away from it all,” I go to Pinterest.

A perfect example of why I will not unplug just flashed on my screen. A fellow Facebook friend poked me. I immediately poked him back. If I participated in Unplugged Day, his poke would go unacknowledged for 24 hours. That would be wrong on so many levels. And then we just lost one of our El Morno friends on Facebook to a five-week trip to Europe. She has been preparing us for the fact that she may not make it to El Morno for a cuppa every day for a whole year, but it’s still hard and not a good time to unplug—leaving us to morno her absence individually and alone. No, I must be there to help pull us through this difficult time.

People tell me the world can exist without me being plugged into my laptop, iPhone, and iPad 24/7…but how do they know this?

Will you unplug? If you do we will support you–I’m just not exactly sure how we will support you….Smoke signals?

Don’t leave ME!