NBC Today Show


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	NBC Today Show films 8020 Workshop





	On January 26th, 2008, we held a workshop in Seattle called Soul Tech. It was filmed by NBC's Today Show as part of their exploration of the impact technology and the information-age has on our lives. The workshop was developed by 8020 Vision and Spark Northwest to help people restore a balanced and healthy approach to living with technology. During the workshop NBC filmed the facilitators, Jay Kimball and Leif Hansen, as they worked with the participants to explore and understand three key goals for the day: How do become aware of when we are too consumed by technology? When we become aware, how do we consciously choose new more effective behavior that deepens our happiness and connection with others? As we work to establish a balance between technical and soulful aspects of living, how do we stick with it? George Lewis, one of NBC News' most-honored correspondents, conducted an interview with Jay and Leif. He is the winner of three Emmys, the George Foster Peabody and Edward R. Murrow awards. George also interviewed one of the participants, Ariel. Ariel was interviewed before, during, and after the workshop to detail how the workshop helps participants to explore their role with technology and define new concious ways of living a balanced healthy life At right is an article from NBC producer Stephanie Becker's "Reporters Notebook", describing her experience at the workshop and the challenge of unplugging.

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Reporter’s Notebook: She’s come unplugged

A TODAY show producer realizes just how over-wired she has become

Our plugged-in producer with her cameraman

Reporter's Notebook

By Stephanie Becker

Feb. 20, 2008

If you’ve ever lost track of time while mindlessly clicking and linking and Googling and texting and e-mailing and forwarding and blogging, you may consider yourself to be “over-wired." And perhaps you are none too happy about it.

So, when I read (offline no less) about a workshop that could help the obsessively wired pull the plug, I had to do a story about it. Certainly not for me but for everyone else around me who could benefit from the zero-tech psychological tools the workshop employs to help bring balance to the over-wired. (TODAY will run a segment on this on Wednesday, Feb. 20.)

We focused on Ariel, a woman in Seattle who spends so much time on her computers and PDA that she’s worried she isn’t “being present in the present.” She’s got her eyes so focused on her screens, she can’t savor her real life.

Just about everyone I talked to had a high-tech horror story. There’s the daughter who’d rather text than actually talk to her friends; a husband who won’t put down his BlackBerry, even at a swanky and impossible-to-get-into restaurant. There's also a reporter who scrolls through PDA messages during an interview. (Not anyone now on the show!)

When I pitched this story, I did it with a certain amount of smugness bordering on Luddite elitism. I would never let myself become so dependent, so obsessed, so hooked on any gadget. One friend even dubbed me the “Analog Gal.” It’s true. I still have a TV with a dial. I don’t know how to text on my cell phone. I pay all my bills with a stamp. I’m what you call a late adopter. If technology were a kid, I’d be adopting it just in time for its driver’s license.

Of course, I’m certainly not raging against the machine. I blog. I e-mail. I once successfully Google-whacked. I wake up at 6 a.m. and log in for work messages before I even brush my teeth. (Mostly it’s to make sure I’m not assigned a “save your marriage” segment. I’m so woefully ill-equipped to cover that, I’d have to call in sick.)

So there I was at this Seattle workshop, which was filled with folks seeking to get more disconnected from their constant access. Still, several “sneak eaters” snuck out to use their cell phones. One guy even had the chutzpah to text in the middle of a presentation. Feeling rather self-righteous, I knew I had way more self-control than that. How could anyone let life slip away bit by byte?

Then, during a quiet period of introspection for the participants ... BUSTED! The facilitator snapped a (digital) photo of me busy on my BlackBerry. But, I’m certain it was some news emergency. Or maybe I just had to know what my friends were ordering at that cute sushi place in Boston. (MapQuest distance: 3048.6 miles and 45 hours driving time.) Or was it the score of the Indiana-Minnesota basketball game that I was checking?

No, I sadly recall. I was actually forwarding a forwarded joke to the cameraman who, you will notice, is conveniently located right next to me (see above picture). Apparently, the “Analog Gal” bytes the dust.