Time to unplug

It’s happening at Citizenship and Immigration Canada:

It may be wishful thinking, but a Canadian government ministry has sent out a directive to its employees urging them to relax and not to use their BlackBerry smartphones at night or on weekends and holidays.

It’s also happening Intel, according to Macleans:

When Sir Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity, he wasn’t fiddling with a BlackBerry; he was reclined against an apple tree in quiet contemplation, or so the story goes. For today’s scientist, as for any office worker, with colleagues, endless meetings and an overflowing inbox, such uninterrupted moments are rare. What does the lost time mean for creative thought? Computer giant Intel is studying this question: in a six-month pilot project dubbed “Quiet Time,” workers shut out all distractions and wait for the proverbial apple to fall.

Quiet Time, which began in September, happens each Tuesday at two of Intel’s U.S. sites (they won’t reveal exactly where). From 8 a.m. to noon, the 300 engineers and managers in the test group set email and instant messaging to off-line mode, forward all calls to voice mail, and hang “do not disturb” signs at their cubicle entrances.

Is it time to unplug, at least part of the time?

Fax machines, emails, telephones, beepers, an over-committed schedule, the press of people’s needs…these are the tools of mass destruction for spiritual leaders. Their development and deployment often proceed without inspection. They threaten to shut down the spiritual leader’s communion with God. Once that happens, the leader’s effectiveness is destroyed. The leader becomes a casualty of a struggle that is as old as humanity – the drowning out of eternity by the screams of temporal concerns. (Reggie McNeal, A Work of Heart)

Lent starts tomorrow – maybe it’s time to unplug?