Every once in a while, I stumble across something on the Internet that stops me in my tracks. With everything bad that happens in the world, it’s easy to forget the good things — but there are plenty of organizations and people out there working for the greater good, working to help the community, the environment, the world. The link I’m going to share with you today will give you – or anyone else – the opportunity to be one of those people.

Allow me to introduce you to the UNICEF Tap Project. This is an absolutely wonderful initiative that I learned about through a Tumblr post I saw reblogged several times. Here’s the premise: as a technology-driven society, it’s so easy for us to get caught up in our phones. How many times have you looked around wherever you were – at dinner, at the mall, at a sporting event – and seen SO MANY PEOPLE ON THEIR CELL PHONES. (I am absolutely guilty of being one of those people sometimes.) Not only does this distract us from having actual, legitimate conversations, it makes everything so impersonal!

The UNICEF Tap Project challenges you to put down your phone, and see how long you can go without using it…. and in the meantime, you’ll be doing something to help people around the world. All you have to do is use your phone and go to the website: tap.unicefusa.org/. From there, go through the prompts and then just don’t touch your phone! The timer keeps track of how long you’ve gone, and for every minute that you go without using your phone/device, sponsors will donate clean water to children in need.

It’s an amazing incentive, really. While the timer counts, it’ll display facts about water usage around the world, how many people are using the app at the present time, the record amount of time, etc. It’s such an easy thing to do. You can even leave it on when you’re in the shower, making dinner, sleeping, etc. Every minute counts! I was unable to use it on my Android phone, but my iPod Touch was able to connect with it thru wifi and it’s easy as pie. I strongly recommend that everyone does this, whether it’s for 10 minutes or 10 hours or 10 days. It’s a great, easy way to help.