Eric Schmidt Recommends: No Electronics for One Hour Every Day

Graduation season has come and gone for 2012, and with it the chance to hear from prolific academics and business people. Google’s Eric Schmidt gave the commencement address at Boston University, and offered a relevant piece of advice to those in attendance:

He urged them to “turn that thing off” at least one hour a day, to have “real” conversations with friends and family, to experience the world around them through their senses and not just a screen. “Life,” he said, “is not lived in the glow of a monitor.

Coming from the face of Google Search, Gmail, and hundreds of other tools, that seems an interesting recommendation, considering the huge majority of Google’s revenue coming from people surfing the net. But it’s a good one. Studies show that time away from glowing screens can help the mind stay clear.

He also notes that technology is a great thing for society, especially when used to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. He continues:

People bemoan this generation that is growing up living life in front of screens, always connected to something or someone. These people are wrong. They’re absolutely wrong. The fact that we’re all connected now is a blessing, not a curse, and we can solve many, many problems in the world as a result. But it’s a tool, you are the ones who will harness that power. And that requires innovation and entrepreneurship.

Source: BU Today via 9to5Google