Gilltown family undertakes 'digital fast'

The McGlinchey household in Gilltown is feeling a little cut off from this morning, writes Brian Byrne, because they are one of the two families taking part in the Radio 1 John Murray Show Digital Challenge.

All the family's screens and gadgets have been 'put beyond use' for a week in the experiment, which was triggered after John Murray interviewed an American author who had done the same with her family for six months.

The only electronic equipment left to the family, apart from their telephone landline, is a transistor radio.

Caroline and Mike McGlinchey live on a farm near Brannockstown with their children Emily and Ethan.

Ethan says he'll miss the TV most, and Emily will 'miss my phone'.

Among the equipment which has been taken from the house for the week are game consoles, Caroline's laptop, the TV, mobile phones, DVD player, and iPod.

Mike says he'll miss the TV, but he hopes that the experiment will help the children get a taste of how he grew up as a child.

"My imagination was a great pal of mine when I was growing up, playing cowboys and indians and all that," he told John Murray last night. "I don't think these will be playing cowboys and indians, but it will bring them back to something anyway."

The gadgets are being kept under lock and key by the children's grandmother Eithne Kenny.

Meanwhile, the Principal of Brannoxtown NS where the McGlinchey children go to school has called for their fellow pupils to support them by undertaking at least in part a similar 'digital fast'. And Esther Reddy is leading by example, having 'decomissioned' all the similar gadgetry in her own household.

"I'm not very popular this morning," she told John Murray ruefully today.

The second family is in Sutton, Dublin. Both families are allowed to use the landline to phone their experiences to the show each evening.