Turn off gadgets, tune into loved ones

By KATE SHELLNUTT
Aug. 19, 2010

Chris Shook is as technology-dependent as most. If she accidentally leaves the house without her cell phone, she'll turn around to get it rather than spend a few hours feeling naked without it.

She and her husband, pastor Kerry Shook, founded one of Houston's most tech-savvy congregations, Woodlands Church, where members can tweet questions during services, interact on their own social networking site and even attend worship services at its "digital campus" online.

On Wednesday, though, they're asking the church's 17,000-plus attendees to do the unthinkable: turn off their laptops, iPods and cell phones, and take a break from technology.

They're calling it a National Facebook Fast. For a whole day, the Shooks want people to swap digital communication for face time with family and friends. the rest