Tech TimeOut Pushing 'National Day of Unplugging on March 1' - We Say - NAH!

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To align with the 2013 National Day of Unplugging on March 1, the recently launched Tech Timeout is challenging people to take a break from their tech-toys for one hour each day, all year round, in an effort to reconnect with loved ones and life throughout all of 2013.

In an increasingly technology-reliant society, disconnecting for an hour each day may seem impossible to some, but TechTimeout.com and the Tech Timeout Facebook page are working to make it easier by providing the tools needed to help participants be successful.

From hilarious images and a Tech Timeout video that illustrates in painful honesty what can go wrong when people are overly connected to their digital devices,to a list of more than 50 things to do without technology and a convenient downloadable Tech Timeout pledge form to be printed and displayed proudly in homes as a daily reminder to refresh and reconnect.

The idea is the brainchild of Foresters, an international life insurance provider, and BVK Creative Director, Gary Mueller, who came up with the concept while observing the behavior of other families around the pool during a family vacation in Florida.

"It was crazy," recalls Mueller. "I am sitting there watching a dozen families who should be laughing, swimming andinteracting with each other in the pool and instead you have dads on their laptops working, moms on iPads and kids either texting or playing games on their phones. That's when the idea of launching Tech Timeout was born."

Of course, the irony of using social media and digital technology to promote an effort to get people to take a break from them is not lost on Mueller.

"Unfortunately, that's just the reality of the world we live in," explains Mueller. "I look at it as simply fighting fire with fire."

Moving forward in 2013, the Tech Timeout Facebook page will function as a gathering place for people taking "timeouts" to share their tech-free success stories and struggles, as well as for a source for news, resources and reference to inspire tech-free ideas.

The fourth annual National Unplugging Day is scheduled to take place from sundown to sundown spanning March 1-2.