After realizing how ridiculous that reaction was and turning off the phone to conserve battery life (no one else had a charger that would work), I looked forward to this opportunity. I was in Indiana to celebrate the wedding of a dear friend and help her out, not share the minutiae of my existence with those who follow me on the global conversation known as Twitter.

I joked that I was suburban camping, and only went through withdrawals for a few hours. While I was busy helping with preparations, I soon noticed I wasn’t as jumpy or tense as I normally am. I didn’t feel the compulsion to read 800 newspapers or blogs a day to keep up with every breaking news story. I could focus on a task longer than 10 minutes. I was relaxed.

Now, I was hardly cut off. I checked email once a day, and sent out a couple of tweets on Saturday, but it was far from my usual time spent online. Honestly, I didn’t miss it.

Given my job and geographic location, I can’t maintain this level of disconnect, but I appreciated it. Outside of urban areas, I noticed that people don’t obsessively check their phones and BlackBerries for messages. Actually, not that many people had smart phones. At the rehearsal dinner, no one pulled out their phones for hours at a time. It was so noticeable that I commented on it, and a fellow guest, who lives in the New York area, agreed. People were focused on the conversation going on physically around them rather than activities back at the office or chatting with other friends.

Checking your phone constantly or texting while out with other people is a pet peeve of mine. I’m guilty of doing it, but it is rude to focus on some web device when out with friends for dinner or happy hour. It’s even worse if you’re on a date!

While situations arise when you do need to check your phone for something important, we blur the lines far too often. Following the latest trending topic on Twitter does not count as an emergency. If you are physically at an event with others, you should mentally be present as well.

Of course my period of disconnection didn’t stick. As soon as I got to the airport, I took advantage of free wifi. When I got home, I immediately spent a few hours catching up on the interwebs and penning this post.

I’m hardly turning into Wendell Berry, but I do think that humans need to disconnect regularly. Perhaps it’s just the news-obsessed culture of the DC area, but everyone around me would benefit from a tech break. Humans were not created to constantly absorb news and regurgitate information. Just because we can share information immediately, doesn’t mean we need to comply. The expectation to react 24/7 is not healthy, and it made the political world much worse.

I still love technology, partially because it pays the bills, but I do wish that it was easier to step away from it all.

President Tech-Savvy?

Remember the 2008-2009 Barack Obama? The one who praised Facebook, online fundraising and online organizing for his victory and forced the National Security Agency to build a super-deluxe secret security system for the official POTUS BlackBerry?

Either the 2010 Obama has done a 360 on his tech-love, or the most transparent administration evah was lying about its integration of technology and social media. Per The Guardian:

Yesterday however, the president admitted he could not operate an iPod or iPad, as he warned the students against becoming distracted by technology when they are already graduating “at a time of great difficulty for America, and for the world”.

“With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations – none of which I know how to work – information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” Obama said.

“All of this is not only putting new pressures on you. It is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy.”

Ironically, David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, was in Richmond to discuss the integration of the 2008 campaign with technology. The very same weekend Obama revealed his Luddite side, Plouffe told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “…the use of technology to communicate through online and social media was ‘the heartbeat and engine’ of Obama’s groundbreaking and historic 2008 run for the White House.”

Which was it? Does Obama suddenly have technology amnesia or did the campaign cleverly hide Obama’s ignorance by feeding him the right talking points through the help of his BFFs–the Teleprompter and CrackBerry? The campaign did nimbly use Facebook and online fundraising (their use of Twitter frankly sucked), but time is proving that these areas were further down the campaign totem pole than previously believed.

If the 2008 Obama campaign viewed technology as a lower-tier activity, that’s fine. Plenty of campaigns, particularly on the right, have used digital media from the candidate on down. We’re no longer arguing the legitimacy of engaging online. However, if Obama is a techno-phobe, and evidence points that way, he is most definitely not the first Tech President.

As soon as I heard Obama’s comments, I remembered his 2009 admission that he had never used Twitter before. While answering a student’s question in China, he said:

“I have never used Twitter but I’m an advocate of technology and not restricting internet access.”

In order to be the true first Tech President, the candidate should personally employ technology to spread his or her message and connect with supporters. Given that there are a number of candidates in 2010 races running their own Facebook profiles and tweeting, this should be expected from a presidential contender. It is absolute hypocrisy to award Obama this designation when he clearly has an axe to grind with the technology that got him to the White House.

While the Obama campaign obviously misled the American people about the importance of technology, Plouffe’s statements he made in Richmond are accurate:

Plouffe said the campaign was built using the Internet to engage voters in volunteering, contributing money and “sharing the message” amongst themselves. Connecting these people — not only to the campaign but to each other — helped them build trust with prospective voters they engaged both online and face-to-face.

“There is a lack of trust — in government, in business leaders, in academic leaders, even in faith leaders,” Plouffe said. But, he said, “People trust each other.”

Now, in the future, those grass-roots campaigners will be equipped with interactive mobile devices that allow them to pull down voter lists, videos and the latest campaign information to help make the case for their candidates.

The keys to success will be making campaigns more accessible, providing fast responses and striving to not appear slick.

It is possible to have technology as a focal point without the candidate being directly involved. However, they appear to have blatantly lied about being authentic. Either Obama was involved with the use of technology or he wasn’t. It’s time to put the “Obama is so tech-savvy!” myth to rest and admit to the sleight of hand. Perhaps Plouffe should remember his own advice:

“You’ve got to be authentic. People are looking for authenticity,” Plouffe said. “They are hungering for it.”

H/T TechRepublican