Shutdown or Overclocking
A couple of guys from Montreal (Denis Bystrov and Michael Taylor) have declared next Sunday (March 24th) to be Shutdown Day – they want everyone to all their computers off for one whole day.
Over on the Engadget website there is a post suggesting that, far from shutting down, we should double our computing consumption.
I’m not sure I could go 24 hours without my online fix, so I consulted the Internet Addiction Test (because the Internet has all the answers!) and it said:
You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.
I think Kerri might disagree with that 
What would I do next Saturday if I did switch off? I presume video games count, so I wouldn’t be able to play Halo. At least there’s no F1 race that weekend, or I couldn’t do my usual posts. There’s the Toronto Wine & Cheese Show but it’s being held out by the airport, which is a pain to get to. (Wait, wait – there’s a shuttle bus service.) Any other suggestions?
I like the idea of a patch for web junkies – attach screenshots of your favourite websites to your arm to get you through your withdrawal pains.
Now if only this was on a work day not a Saturday… 
Update: There’s now a poll for you to cast your vote – will you shutdown?
I decided that I was going to try to go Saturdays without my computer. I did it last Saturday, but I was also kept busy with other things. Then this morning I had to turn it on to see of someone had emailed me about something particular.
There’s always next Saturday, right?
…I should clarify: I made this decision last Saturday, before I heard about Shutdown Day. I think it’s nice to take a break from it once a week and I also think that it would have an affect on power consumption.
I can’t really go without it, as it’s crunch time for getting assignments done. Otherwise, though, I *could* go without it for a day.
Shutting down the computer completely sounds like a good idea to me.
I’m for going to the Wine and Cheese if you are! Let me know
That’s just way too keen – one day would be a struggle for me, but doing it more than once means you’re either a glutton for punishment or just not a true techie
Sure – I can give it up any time … just not now
I don’t know if I can be bothered with the trek over to the airport for it, but we’ll see. (I think it’s a fairly low likelihood though.)
If the weather’s good, I’m thinking of walking down to the Beaches, seeing my chiropractor and then taking some photos. If not, then I’ve got a huge list of chores that I’ve been ignoring
[...] I posted about Shutdown Day last Saturday I was unsure if I’d be able to take part, mostly because I’m a geek and I can’t [...]
I’ve got a tonne of work to get done, but Kerri’s going to be working there today.
I failed. My computer’s been acting ill so last night and this morning I was backing up files. I was going to look into buying a new computer but my best friend reminded me that a hard drive reformat might be the way to go.
I failed too – my excuse is that I’m working.
Hope you get your PC fixed up. Even if you end up having to replace the drive, it’s cheaper than a whole new PC … but new toys are fun
This is true.
I can’t remember if this copy of Windows is the one that came with the PC or if it’s a ** copy. I know that my copy of Office is **. In fact, I think I have to take inventory of my software to figure out where it all came from and make sure I’ve got serial numbers for everything I’ll need to reinstall!
That said, I was looking at early 2008 to replace my computer – perhaps with a laptop – and if I do need to get a new one sooner all I’ll really need is a drive or a barebones machine.
Dell have some nice laptops and they do frequent promotions/deals. We’re still talking of replacing our laptop and I keep trying to resist, but I don’t think that’s going to last for long.