The Future of Retro Fitness Babylon

What is Retro Fitness Babylon?

Every day our society is becoming more and more tech-dependent.  For example, many people have smartphones in their pockets at all times and rely heavily on them for the majority of their daily activities, even when they are not working. But with such a heavy reliance on technology, it’s important to find ways to remain unplugged from technology during certain periods of your life. 

One way is Retro Fitness Babylon, a nearly year-long project that will challenge participants to become as unplugged from technology as possible in order to gain insight into how digital devices have affected our daily lives and more importantly, how we can use this insight to improve the way we relate to each other outside of a social media feed or an internet browser window.

Use:

This Kickstarter project is an art project, not a business. Therefore, none of the money raised will be used to support me financially. The Kickstarter funds are only being used to pay for the rewards given to backers. This includes the shipping, packaging and printing of prints, postcards, journals and books. 

Your money will be going toward: printing costs for my book(s), producing postcard(s) and print(s), paying the printer who will be making the sketchbook hardcover book editions, shipping & packaging materials and service charges to send them (both within Canada & internationally), paying Kickstarter’s 5% fee.

This Kickstarter Project is just an introduction to a much larger project (which I will be developing over the next year) involving an interactive community collaboration with established artists from around the world.

Features:

Retro Fitness Babylon is actually two separate projects. The main project is to challenge participants to go completely unplugged from technology for an entire year. During this project I will be sending out a weekly email that includes the challenge for the week (i.e. make something without using technology). 

I will post blog updates about my own experience with each weekly challenge and how it effected me (both positively and negatively). However, the primary objective of Retro Fitness Babylon is to get other people involved in sharing their own experiences—good or bad—throughout their year-long journey as they try to become as unplugged from modern technology as possible.

Advantages:

There are many positive social benefits to unplugging from modern technology that many people don’t realize. For example, it will give you a chance to communicate with others in ways that were never possible before. In the age of digital technology, face-to-face communication is often lost in favor of text messages and twitter feeds. This project will force you to re-learn to communicate with others—face to face—and create long lasting relationships with real people. 

In addition, unplugging from modern technology will make you more productive and efficient in your everyday life. This is because you will be forced to learn many new skills that technology has made obsolete. For example, do you have the ability to use a map to get around town? Or can you navigate your way through the city only using landmarks? Can you read a book and understand it (i.e. complete it) without having a google search open in another browser window? Can you look up directions on your own and drive somewhere new without using GPS? If this all sounds difficult, then this project is for you!

Disadvantages:

There are many negative social effects that unplugging from modern technology may bring out in people who decide to participate in Retro Fitness Babylon. For example, you may experience feelings of isolation as you discover that many people around you cannot understand how or why anyone would want to go a year without modern technology. You may find that some people in your life will suddenly become distant and avoid talking to you altogether. You might even lose friends over this project. 

These social forces may put a lot of pressure on you throughout the year as you try to remain unplugged from digital technology. It’s also important to note that many devices out there are not going to be compatible with Retro Fitness Babylon (i.e. GPS systems, cars, digital cameras, computers and email). If you want to participate in the Retro Fitness Babylon project and are planning on buying a new phone or computer, please do your research before you spend your money.

What are the odds?

There is no way for me to know how many people will decide to participate in Retro Fitness Babylon. However, I am confident that this project will be successful since I have already been receiving a lot of positive reactions from many people who have already read up on this project and the challenges ahead. 

Also, the support that I have received from many other artists involved with other projects over the past year has been incredibly appreciated. It is because of this support that I am confident that Retro Fitness Babylon will not only succeed but thrive.