Calling all 2012 graduates. Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt has some advice for you: Set aside some time every day to unplug your devices, and live your life.

Calling all graduates. Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt has some advice for you — set aside some time every day to unplug your devices, and live your life.

"Take one hour a day and turn that thing off," Schmidt told graduates on Saturday at Boston University's 139th commencement ceremony. "Take your eyes off that screen and look into the eyes of the person you love. Have a conversation, a real conversation."

In an apparent dig at rival Facebook, Schmidt added, "Don't push a button saying 'I like something,' actually tell them."

Schmidt, speaking before more than 6,700 BU graduates and a crowd of approximately 20,000, pointed out that young people are connected at all times of the day — they wake up, check their phone, read their email, and troll through their social network news feeds.

"Some of you are probably texting right now, or tweeting this speech, changing your status," he quipped.

But Schmidt also said that 2012 graduates — "the first fully connected generation the world has ever known" – are better equipped than any other generation to make history because of their technological prowess. And while some people complain that the graduates' generation has grown up in front of a screen, living in an ever-connected society is a "blessing, not a curse."

"Connectivity will revolutionize every aspect of society — politically, socially, economically," he said. "To connect the world is to free the world."

Schmidt challenged graduates to "harness the power" of technology through innovation and entrepreneurship. Don't follow someone else's vision, he said, but foster new ideas.

"The digital ties that bind our humanity together are not possible without technology, but it's also not possible you, without a heart," Schmidt said. "You have the heart, and the future will not beat without you."