tune in, turn on, drop out

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

A counterculture slogan that first appeared in the 1960s and popularized by Timothy Leary and attributed to Marshall McLuhan.

Phrase

tune in, turn on, drop out

  1. To pay attention to the new way of living; to go within yourself, to take drugs; to abandon the established ways and cease conforming.
    • 2018 August 23, Kara Swisher, “How and Why Silicon Valley Gets High”, in The New York Times‎[2], →ISSN:
      That research might eventually move the category of drugs from their turn-on-tune-in-drop-out heyday in counterculture San Francisco to the mainstream.

Usage notes

References

  1. ^ Timothy Leary (1983) Flashbacks, New York: Putnam, published 1990, →ISBN, page 253: “Dripping wet, with a towel around my waist, I walked to the study and wrote down this phrase: “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out.””
  2. ^ “Leary's Legacy Is, Like, Flipped, Man”, in The New York Times‎[1], 9 June 1996, →ISSN

Further reading

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