Fallowlab’s monthly focus for March 2015 is about the complexity of online living – and how the ancient tool of Shmita may be helpful towards better balance and solutions.

Facebook – yes or no? There are many good things to say about the gain of social networking and connections, but beyond the issue of addiction and shallow presentations of self – the real issue here is our growing lack of privacy, abused quite openly and increasingly by the seekers of commercial gain. Is it worth it?
Rabbi Kook, Douglas Rushkoff, Havi Brooks, Tiffany Shlain and a few other wise people shed some light on this and invite us to the conversation. Join us in NYC or online on March 9 for the next Fallowlab salon.

The impulse towards growth and self-realization needs space to come to fruition. We need to stop and shake off the bedlam of daily lives.
–Rabbi A. Y. Kook, Shabbat Ha’Aretz

The music for this episode is Escape by BlueTech.

This month’s FallowLab conversation combines a conversation about Shmita, a look at how we choose and can choose better – and a celebration of fruits and trees, honoring the first human choice to pick a fruit and eat it – just in time for Tu Bishvat – the annual birthday of trees.

There are 75 different types of fruit jams in the supermarket across the street from my house.
That’s good, right? who doesn’t love choices?
Or is it?

Ever since that first moment of choosing to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden, we humans have been blessed and cursed with the power of choice.

Abundance and free markets offer us the world on a dazzling platter; The humanist pursuit of free will governs our systems and offer us the freedom to be who we really want to be. The the digital age makes options even easier and even more diverse. Choose your own playlist.

I’m 100% Pro Choice – but aren’t we getting lost in too many choices?? Is there a price tag our souls and society pay for always choosing more, other, and not being satisfied with what there is? What can we each do to improve our art of choosing?

The music for this episode is Escape by BlueTech.

How much time do I spend online? What can I do to make better use of my time on and offline to be a happier and more productive person? How can we do this together? Shmita exists in the grid of sacred time. This ancient construct can help us in the modern world to take time out, reflect on our time management, and commit to more grounded practices and choices in our everyday life.

This month’s conversation features selections from classical sources about Shmita and contemporary texts about digital wellbeing, highlighting Douglas Rushkoff’s Program or Be Programmed – a template for TEN COMMANDS to help us live better digital lives. The first command: Do Not Be Always On.

The music for this episode is Escape by BlueTech.

I am. But before take off on this year-long exploration of resetting, restarting and restoring my online and offline life – I want to map out the journey ahead and be clear about what I’m doing, why I’m taking this on,how it’s going to happen – and who’s coming along for the ride.

So this first monthly conversation orients the travelers, examines the travel gear, sets the frame for the year’s worth of exploring, restarts a new year and reclaims an ancient agricultural system as a modern tool for techno-human improvement.

The music for this episode is Escape by BlueTech.