Anyone who follows John Mayer on Twitter knows that he’s a smart guy. A bit kooky at times, sure. But he’s definitely not just shooting his mouth off with self-promotional drivel. He’s built up quite a following on the service too, with over 2.8 million Twitter followers. So when he invites all of his fans to give up Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks for a week, you know there are a lot of people paying attention.
Tonight, Mayer has announced a One Week Digital Cleanse. The purpose? To ring in the new year with a slightly less chaotic mental state. In his post announcing the Cleanse, Mayer likens our increasingly scattered lifestyles to fragmented hard drives. It’s an apt comparison — between sites like Twitter, Facebook, and multiple Email boxes, most of us have data and friendships scattered across a dozen different places. Mayer thinks giving some of these up for a while might be a good way to “defragment” our minds. He’s not quitting these services the way Trent Reznor and Miley Cyrus did, he’s just taking a week long break, and he wants his fans to join him.
Unlike some similar campaigns I’ve heard of, which asked you to quit just about everything with a digital display, Mayer’s drive is probably doable for a lot of people. It doesn’t ask you to give up Email, and you can still use your cell phone for some things. Here are the guidelines :
Begins on January 1 at 9AM and runs until January 8 at 9AM
*email only from laptop or desktop computers
*cell phones can only be used to make calls, and no text messages or e-mails are allowed – if you receive a text, you must reply in voice over the phone. E-mails must be returned from a laptop or desktop computer.
*no use of Twitter or any other social networking site – this includes reading as well as posting.
*no visiting of any entertainment or gossip sites. (No need to detail which ones – you know what they are.)
Work commitments keep me from engaging in the Cleanse myself, but you may want to give it a try, if only for a day or two. If nothing else, consider just how attached you’ve become to these online services. Last June, when I took a weeklong vacation to the Caribbean, I found myself suffering some pretty serious withdrawals when I couldn’t compulsively check my Email or the latest tech news. It took about two full days of perfect weather and endless beaches to kick the sense of impending doom. That’s a little weird. Technology is amazing, but getting some perspective is a good thing.
I agree with John! But 7days is a long period, I am in for a 3days digital cleanse.
Xenu will not be pleased.
lol. that’s gold, jerry, gold
why do they call it ovaltine?
“The mug is round! The jar is round! THEY should call it round TINE.”
i love seinfeld. and no one in their right mind would listen to this douchebag john mayer.
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/12/john_mayer_kumail_nanjiani.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/06/john-mayer-stand-up-video_n_382108.html
I do this every time I head to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Where we stay, it’s a dead zone. The only thing you can get is 56K or satellite (no cell coverage at all, 0 bars on every phone). I usually just leave everything behind… it’s actually quite nice.
I am curently in the northern lower peninsula and I’m dieing on AT&T’s iffy Edge network.
I enjoy to read the various articles on your blog.
Not in to the folk song singers nor the advice they give.
Most people would probably classify him as pop, but he’s actually a really good blues guitarist too.
Who cares. Is this called MTVCrunch or TechCrunch. Why bother reporting what some damned singer and his mindless drones of fans do. Get back to the news. If I wanted to read this drivel I’d visit tmz.
Please visit tmz
Back to Basics
Digital detox? Already hard to imagine what life was like without the iPhone.
A novel idea. Less time in the digital world can motivate participants to start new years resolutions, rather than simply tweeting about their resolutions. I hope tech writers do not take a break because CES is smack dab in the middle of the fast.
Sorry John, I can’t follow this. I’m Hard-of-Hearing and most of my freinds are deaf, so I have text. As for e-mail, I’m away from the desktop for hours at a time because I’m in classes.
It’s a nice idea, buuuuut I don’t care much for Mr. Mayer.
who’s John Mayer?
John’s a much better musician than I am but… I had the idea first.
John Mayer also doesn’t know who Accenture is. I don’t think I’ll be taking technology advice from him…
Proof
http://twitter.com/johncmayer/status/6643478142
Social media can be an addiction like alcohol, cigarettes, or anything else. If you can’t give it up for a couple days, then you’re in denial. Time for step 1– admitting you have a problem.
And I certainly do, if I’m on the TechCrunch boards on a Wednesday night.
wtf john mayer…
7 days is too much for me. I can’t live without computing for more than a day unless i am out of station. Computing is my passion !
talk.
on the phone.
with my voice?
no f’ing way. is that possible?
*looks at phone puzzled*
These things don’t work – esp the no SN part … fact is, when you ARE able to get back on you’ll spend twice the normal time you would regularly spend to get ‘caught up’ … thus it all evens out. You might take a week off, but you’ll spend an extra weeks time in the following week finding out what the heck everyone’s been up to and what’s been happening.
Missing a thing or two about what your friend just did probably won’t kill you.
I’ve planned a 30 day abstinence from all of my social media ‘habits’. That’s no Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or anything else. It’s going to be hard and I may need medication but it’ll be worth it.
I barely use my cellphone, don’t have an ipone or an ipod, don’t even have TV, I just took a week off twitter.
I refuse to be connected 24×7. There’s a life out there to be lived.
haha wtf no one else thinks this is hilarious? Either this lameass terrible musician, his vapid opinion on tech, or techcrunchs earnest as hell reporting of it and treating this like an actual coherent thought? and all the commenters expressing their rueful congratulations – haha people seriously, what the fuck, i had to read this a couplke times to make sure this isnt just a really subtle joke.
John should combine it with a colon cleanse…
This Mayer dude is a good musician, but he is as boring as a black turtleneck.
I’m inviting everyone to give up John Mayer for a lifetime. You’ll thank me later.
He turned up at the Michael Jackson Memorial Service and the whole world screamed ‘Who the f*** is that?’.
Now he turns up in Techcrunch promoting an Anti-tech message.
He is the new George Hamilton of Showbiz.
Knows everyone. Goes everywhere. No real talent.
But is famous for being famous.
lol. welcome to MTVCrunch.
No Talent? He’s a fantastic guitarist. He’s got an okay sense of humor (witness his guest appearances on Dave Chappele show). He bangs actresses and then kicks them to the curb. And he’s absolutely right about taking a tech vacation now and then.
“John Mayer Wants You To Defragment Your Brain With A Digital Cleanse”
I want John Mayer to stop writing crappy songs and inflicting them on me through mass media saturation, but we can’t always get what we want, right?
Very good guitarist, his songs are pabulum, ok sense of humor, most famous guys “bang actresses and kick them to the curb”, it’s called fame. And those of us who’ve worked with technology for years have already integrated “tech vacations” into our calendars. But thanks for the advice, Johnny-come lately.
Wonder if Scoble is going to follow the advice!!!
Though I don’t really use any of the social networking sites he talks about, your issue you had with disconnecting or trouble to do so is one I can relate to.
As the technology allows us to stay more “connected” to what we like, it becomes harder to not have that constant fulfilment we get from it. I perosnally don’t feel this is a bad thing, or something to be “recovered from”, but everyone has their perspective…
“John Mayer Wants You To Defragment Your Brain With A Digital Cleanse”
Actually, this mixed metaphor is wickedly funny. Is he implying most of his fans have their heads up their asses, and thus are in need of a “cleanse”? Most people associate “cleanse” with colonics.
This isn’t a solution. You mind will stay active doing something else. Here’s a solution that works, based upon my experience, and that of practitioners for thousands of years: http://bit.ly/4FIQ2I
I regularly have Twitter fasts of 24 hours and I’m not on Facebook often enough to be considered a regular. Gossip websites? I don’t even know the URLs.
I think it is better to find your own balance than follow a regimen suggested by a pop culture figure. A good sentiment though…it is cleansing to unplug for a time.
Sorry John, but not happening. That’s the same time as CES, so trying to get geeks to not Twitter and do email except on their computers is not going to work.