Jason Verhoosky announced he unplugged from technology for Independence Day weekend.
I did not send or check email, send even a singular tweet, check facebook, or even so much as make a non-family related phone call. During this time my many computers sat idol, my iPhone received a much needed break, my thumbs took a mini vacation, and I spent uninterrupted time with my family and friends over the holiday weekend.
I wonder why he stopped. I wonder if he has the stamina to take a sabbatical for a longer period of time.
Brianna and Marilyn have thought about this. They've already begun, echoing Gwen Bell's July 1 decision to unplug for 30 days.
She tweeted a link to her blog post for non-blog followers of hers. I imagine she posted a similar Facebook announcement.
Which leads to me.
Twitter was the first to see me disappear. It's been six days so far.
Time will tell when twitter.com/ariherzog is updated; like my Twitter sabbatical in January, I'm not missing anything. I scan the stream of people I follow once or twice a day, but spending no more than two minutes doing the scan. People are tweeting everything under the sun these days-and while it's nice to know about everything, that takes up my time.
Ditto on Facebook. I look at other people's Facebook announcements here and there, add a comment when inspired, but it's few and far between. Like the people I follow on Twitter who write 140-character messages about everything, my mutual Facebook friends share everything in their and their children's lives.
My time is limited these days, as I desperately seek fruitful employment. I'm spending more time on LinkedIn than any other social networking site, updating my profile there and both applying to jobs and networking with peers. I'd rather be productive online finding a job than reading the bullshit that fills up my Twitter and Facebook screens. While the names of these websites have come and gone, digital sabbaticals are not new concepts.
And... don't get me started on email. I'm unsubscribing from unwanted newsletters, and replying to email marketers daily to stop emailing me worthless press release junk that they think I might like.
My BlackBerry contract is up for renewal in August. I continue to contemplate scrapping it for a basic clamshell-like cellphone. Like my return to Twitter, time will tell what I do.
What are you doing with your online selves? Have you rescued yourself yet?
-- Thank you for reading Analyzing and Changing My Online Self at AriWriter
Related posts:
- 40 Days and 40 Nights Without Social Networking
- Your Status Updates on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter: A Snapshot in Time
- Ranting and Deciding Something About Twitter