Here at midVentures, it doesn’t necessarily go with our business ethos to urge anyone to go offline. However, considering Thanksgiving is something that every American rejoices in – not just a specific religion – we figured we would give in just this once.

Offlining, a company created by two well-connected New York businessmen, Mark DiMassimo and Eric Yaverbaum, aims to get Americans to lift their heads every once in a while, specifically on family holidays such as Thanksgiving. It wasn’t always this way for them, as Eric says, “I’m the guy who sleeps with his blackberry. I’m raising my hand and saying ‘Yes, I’m an addict.’” Their company was founded when they did just that – lifted their heads – and took notice of such things as their wives, the sun shining in their windows, soft, furry animals and their kids, according to their website. They decided to follow Mark’s dad’s advice: “We invent technology to be our servant, not our master.”

So far in 2010, Offlining ran ad campaigns for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur urging family and friends to put down their cell phones with ads depicting celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan that read: “You don’t have to be Jewish to make amends for your tweets on Yom Kippur.”

For Thanksgiving, their ads feature such images as a turkey with a shotgun aimed at a cell phone saying, “Give thanks, not thx.”

So, go ahead, make like the Amish and revel in the joys of the earth – join in with your family members with fun, real-life interaction such as the medieval torturing device called charades or dive into helping your mom bake your favorite pumpkin pie. Why not up the ante and give a cuddle to every family member (yes, including Uncle Al) just to see the shocked look on each face?  If that doesn’t excite you, there is always the time-honored tradition of a board game to get the party started.

Pledge on Offlining’s website to no video games, internet, cell phones or iPads for one day with 11,081 others.

(This article was written the day before and, with the joys of technology, scheduled for Thanksgiving. No internet was used by said author on Thanksgiving Day. If you’ve read this, go back to your family now.)