The Myth of the Disconnected Life - Jason Farman - Technology. The new year is now well underway and many people have probably already broken the resolutions they made to disconnect from their digital devices more often and reconnect with the people and places immediately around them. In reflecting on the year that has passed, there were moments that became highly symbolic of the need to disconnect. For example, we began 2011 with a YouTube video that went viral on January 14: security footage of a woman falling into a fountain at a Philadelphia mall because she was walking while texting.
The year ended with another plea to disconnect from our devices: the National Transportation Safety Board called for a ban on all cellphone usage while driving. A commercial that aired throughout 2011 for the Windows phone resonated with these concerns around when it is or isn't appropriate to use our phones. The call to disconnect was found in several best sellers of 2011 from Sherry Turkle's Alone Together to William Powers' Hamlet's Blackberry. Digital Divide Institute.