Dear friend and supporter of media justice,
Thank you for signing up for Media Fast: Screen-Free Week 2011! We hope you are looking forward to your week off from TV, computers, video games, or however you are choosing to observe your fast.
Why not share the Fast with your friends and family? It's an easy way to start conversations about media justice and the importance of the media.
Here is a sample email you can cut, edit, and paste:
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Dear friends and family,
I am taking this week off from media, and I think you should too.
I am participating in the 2011 "Media Fast: Screen-Free Week", which runs April 18-24. What is a media fast?
Just like a dietary fast, a media fast is a time to encourage reflection on the impact of TV, computers, smartphones, video games in our lives. Adults in the U.S. now spend 8.5 hours in front of screens.
Personally, I have pledged to: (stop watching TV, turn the computer off after homework is done, etc.)
As Sherry Turkle writes in "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other":
"These days, insecure in our relationships and anxious about intimacy, we look to technology for ways to be in relationships and protect ourselves from them at the same time. This can happen when one is finding one's way through a blizzard of text messages... We bend to the inanimate with new solicitude. We fear the risks and dissappointments of relationships with our fellow humans. We expect more from technology and less from each other."
You should pledge too! Go to www.media-fast.org.
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Getting the word out is one way to make this week more meaningful and impactful for all involved. You can share and discuss your experience with others.
And a lot of your friends might be happy to take the break!