LY SMU Publication: The Straits Times, Life! pp 2-3 Date: 3 May 2008 Headline: Pulling the tech plug

PULLING Tt Techies worldwide are tumin off their computers a and p ones for Shutdown Day. But can plugged-in Singaporeans suw~ve?

I F YOU are reading this story in an ac- tual newspaper, congratulations. But if you are reading it online, get your hand off your mouse and step away -

yes, away - from the computer. That's what some techies worldwide are

planning to do today in an effort to regain control of their lives, and re-connect with the non-virtual world.

Shutdown Day, as the "event" has been dubbed, was started in Canada by computer developers Denis Bystrov and Ashutosh Ra- jekar. At press time, more than 12,000 peo- ple had signed up to unplug themselves from their computers and technology today, according to the duo's website www.shut- downday.org

In Singapore, a Facebook page promot- ing today's event, titled Shutdown Day Sin- gapore 2008, was started last month by pro- duction manager Jimmy Liew, 34.

The self-professed tech geek~and blogger says he first started circulating the message to his 160 friends on the social networking site as a "public service". They then passed it along to their friends. Whether they are in the comforts of home or out and about to- day, more than 620 people now claim to be participating in Shutdown Day Singapore.

The actual numbers, however, don't real- ly matter, says MI Bystrov in an e-mail inter- view with Life!. "I don't care if participants click 'I can' or 'I cannot' (on the website)," he says. "As long as they start thinking about the main questions - 'What about me? Can I survive or not? How I am spending my time?' - the aim of the project is reached.

"The aim is also to get people to think about how their lives have changed with the increasing use of the home computer, and whether any good things are being lost be- cause of this."

Shutdown Day is the latest move to get people to free themselves from the compul- sion to check their e-mail every hour, to send countless SMSes to their friends in- stead of calling them, and to surf the Inter- net aimlessly at home instead of going out for a run.

There are varying levels of tech addic- tion or tech reliance. (For instance, do you feel tetchy or suicidal without your Black- Berry? Do you use Facebook to keep in touch with your friends - or do you have on- ly virtual friends?)

Those behind the cause say the idea is to drive home the need to switch off every once in a while before over-dependency kicks in. Otherwise, the danger, explains senior consultant psychiatrist and psycho- therapist Dr Ken Ung from Adam Road Medical Centre, is that tech addicts may "find it harder and harder to live in the real world, using the virtual world as a form of escape".

"So slowly, they get less adapted to liv- ing in the real world and develop real feel- ings for the virtual world and its charac- ters."

So the question is: Can gadget-loving Sin- gaporeans live up to the challenge?

After all, Infocomm Development Au- thority figures show that the mobile phone penetration rate is 127 per cent here. Seven- ty-one per cent of households have access to the Net.

Indeed, when Life! got three people of different ages and occupations to unplug themselves from technology - that is, no mo- bile phone, no television, no Internet - on Sunday, each failed or cheated in some way.

For many a work-obsessed Singaporean, being connected and contactable 24-7 isn't just a modern-day addiction they can't shake, but a necessary evil to stay or get ahead.

A disgruntled worker in the finance in- dustry, who did not want to give his name for fear of repercussions, told Life!: "Shut-

IE TECH PLUG Constant

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down? My boss is always SMSing me even on Sundays. If I don't reply within an hour, I'm sure it would adversely affect my bonus come year-end."

Employees are given BlackBerrys or oth- er handheld devices with e-mail access, or laptops so they can log into office networks on the go. And Associate Professor Tan Hwee Hoon, who studies organisational be- haviour at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at the Singapore Management Uni- versity, says it's not only common, but also mandatory, for most white-collar workers these days to be plugged in all the time.

She adds: "The ease of technology has created this expectation that you should be on a leash all the time, and if we (employ- ers) provide the technology, you are held ac- countable."

The result is that the line between work and life is blurred, she says. "Bosses want their employees to be on standby mode, even though the job may not require it. More importantly, we have come to take for granted that e-mail should always be re- plied to promptly, often within 24 hours, and SMSes be attended to immediately.

"The pace in which our society moves al- so does not allow us to be tardy. Thus, the expectation has come about because norms have been formed around it."

At auditing firm Pricewaterhousecoop- ers (PWC) Singapore, the majority of staff have mobile phones and laptops, says Ms Deborah Ong, its hu-

6 1 , people man c a ~ i t a l Dartner. - They alsb have' the op- who are so tion of getting Black- Berrvs. rellant on the

she reasons: "Due to globalisation. most computer cogpanies work'across thaf they time zones and this has given rise to a culture neglect the - where people stay con- nected via mobile devic- people es."

While PWC staff are around them' generally not expected IT executive Katrlne to stay contactable ~ ~ i n ~ ~ $ ~ ~ t ~ ~ round the clock, there are instances - especial- ly with urgent or time-sensitive projects - where they have to be, she adds.

But one argument for staying connected is that technology should be as much of an enabler as it is a master. Says Ms Ong: "Whether we like it or not, technology has become very much a part of our lives.

"In fact, technology enables us to better manage work-life balance. For instance, if staff need to take time off to attend to ur- gent family commitments, work does not come to a standstill because their col- leagues can still reach them through their mobile phones or BlackBerrys."

And, yes, there are the sceptics who carp that the fuss surrounding today's tech black- out is overrated. One day a year - isn't it merely symbolic?

"They are 100 per cent right," says Mr Bystrov. "This project is just a start. For sure we won't change people's lives, but I hope we can change one day at least."

One believer is IT executive Katrine Poon, 28, one of the 600 or so people who pledged to shutdown in Singapore today.

She says: "I'm doing it because it's some- thing I feel I can achieve and I believe in its objectives. I see people who are so reliant on the computer that they neglect the peo- ple around them; kids who are so technolo- gy-dependent that asking them to do things the 'traditional' way is considered 'uncool'.

"Nothing special is planned except the conscious effort of unplugging my laptop. I'll be heading for the beach to get some vi- tamin D (sunlight). I think it'll be quite lib- erating."

Source: The Straits Times O Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.