Lately Iāve been a little grossed out with how connected and online I am. Ā When Iām not by a computerāIām by my phone. Ā And from there I have access to all five of my Ā e-mail accounts and with them subscriptions to e-magazines, daily deal site newsletters, notifications, and miscellaneous love letters, lack-thereof letters, and transactional conversations. Ā Also unceasingly at my fingertips, are my Facebook profile, Twitter feed, Ā Instagram, both tumblr accounts, Spotify, Postagram, Voxer, Seamless, Whatsappā¦oh and did I mention I have the ability to call and text message?
My social media capital is abundant. Ā The means by which I can communicate with my 1,006 digital friends are endlessāand as a result, largely meaninglessātying me rather tenuously to the people in my life. Ā I reminded myself this morning, that ālikingā isnāt a sufficient form of me reaching out and to be āliked,ā while flattering, is hardly self-validating of one's own self-worth. Ā Iāll also be the first to admit that Iām almost never really laughing out loud when I punctuate sentences with āhaha.ā
Donāt get me wrong. Ā Iām not evangelizing against all of these things. Ā I am grateful that this perpetual sense of connectedness is possible. Ā It is what has connected me to all the people I care about or have ventured to care about in the course of my uprootings. Ā But I am also acknowledging that this connectedness is also an option (customizable and adjustable as needed).
Today, Iām embarking upon a John-Mayer-circa 2010 digital cleanse at least until January 1, 2013. Ā All my digitalisms are shadows of things thatĀ couldĀ be real: held in my hands, heard in a voice, felt even.Ā Ā Ā I want need to do a few simple things to tune out and force myself to connect with people in ways that are a little more deliberate and require a little more effort on my part. Ā
I will unsubscribe to any list serves or newsletters that I don't read or shouldn't read (peace out, online shopping habit).
I will not live or die by Google Maps. Ā If I am lost, I will stop and ask for directions. Ā (This will probably be the first one for me to break, if we're being honest, but I'll do my best.)
With the exception of urgent work messages, I solemnly swear to only write and read e-mails from either my laptop at home or desktop at work.
I will treat my iPhone like a dumb phone. Ā Calls and texts only. Ā No Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, etc. on the go.
Because a majority of my most meaningful relationships are long distance and I'm not expecting everyone I care about to get in on this with me, I'm not doing away with Facebook entirely. Ā But any communication via this channel on my part must be more substantial than a 'like,' amounting to at least 140 characters.
That being said I'm limiting myself to 30 minutes a day of on-computer social networking only.
I'm not a big Tweeter, so I guess it is a bit of a non-issue, but I'm cleansing it nonetheless. No Twitter.
Blogging is cool though=reading and writing are fun.
I'm going to try these things for a while and hopefully some of the habits stick. Ā Sadly, expect more frequent blogging on my part until the new year--I'm sure you won't even have to ask how this goes. Ā
Cheers, to shedding some digital dead weight.Ā