My reasons?
I was watching a documentary and saw a young boy in the Congo who jumped into the fast moving rapids to be swept away downstream to catch a net made of branches and basically fish there the whole day just to eat. I thought about how this kid would probably never touch a computer. And as that thought crossed my mind I felt a little dirty, for lack of a more apt word.
As I continued to think, I wondered if I could disconnect? Not from my computer or the internet, because one, I need it to work, and two, I'm not going to the library. But from social media.
When Facebook came out, I made an account and let it rot after I realized how much I hated the idea. I left it. Once my wife (then girlfriend) hopped on Twitter around 2007 I came to learn that I was missing out on so much conversations that she was having with our shared friends that I ended up being dragged, reluctantly, to Twitter. And I got hooked. I blog (obviously) and Twitter felt like a mini blog that I get to read from the folks I enjoy to read about. It was genius. I could do without my Facebook (seriously, I have a sad FB video "A Look Back"), but I stayed because that became the only way I could see pics of my friends' kids who were now to busy to hang out, because, you know, kids!
So with social media being only relevant to me for the last six years or so, I was curious if I could just disconnect from it. I'm not a kid whose life started with social media so as an older guy, can I just stop? I like to think I can. And I'd like to see how I react to not reading FB, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, etc.
So here are my rules. No message boards, no Twitter, no Facebook. I'll read my news, I'll email, I'll respond to direct messages, I'll blog, but no socializing.
I'll do this for the entire month of March. Not that I'll be missed, social media is a wave of information, you'll never hear the drop of water that is my social media footprint amongst the torrent of tweets and status updates. This is more for me. And to see how I fair.
Catch you guys on the flip side.
4 comments:
Whoa! That’s really a challenging task! I know it’s exaggeration, but I simply can’t imagine that someone would be able to spend a day without scrolling down their profiles. Anyway, I want to hear the result of your experiment. Keep us posted once you get back in the social media world. Good luck!
Aligned Right
Well, I did it for two weeks.
http://eternalproductions.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/2-weeks-without-social-media-i-was-bored.html
I can’t imagine myself disconnecting from social media within two weeks, but you actually did it! I understand how you felt all alone, without anyone to talk to about your recent thoughts. Though you didn’t reach your one-month goal, you still had a nice realization for this experiment. Your social media matters when you’ve been building your online presence and distinction, but you also have to learn how to turn off your tech and savor the real world. Thanks for sharing!
Tommy Crowe @ Next Up Marketing & Entertainment
Glad you liked it, sir. If anything it taught me I wasn't addicted. That's the best I could ask for.
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