• Power Outlet

    Abandon Your Computer?!

    You may have heard about Power Shift, but tomorrow Carleton students will participate in an event called ‘Power-Off.’ Organized by a Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS) class, the event aims to help Carleton students call attention to their own dependence upon technology by asking them to go 24 hours without the use of a computer. This means no music, no email, no word processing, and yes, faithful readers, no checking your favorite blog. Three of the students in the class are even going a whole month without the use of the computer. The project will culminate in a documentary that the class has been working on.

    Clearly, there are positive, if unintended environmental consequences associated with this event, as students are being called to unplug from the electrical grid and get in touch with the real world, beyond computer monitors. Tom Schmidt, one of the students involved, mentioned that the class had discussed the possibility of being mistaken for one of the environmental groups on campus (which wouldn’t have been a negative, he assured me).

    While Power-Off participants will be minimizing their energy use, they will also be forced to look elsewhere for entertainment and fulfillment. To counteract any possible separation anxiety, the group is also sponsoring a campus event modeled after popular online forms of interaction. From 12:00-12:30, they will hold a live chat room, followed by ‘Speed Friending’ from 12:30-1:00. Both events will occur in Great Hall.