#too connected

Lately I’ve been a little grossed out with how connected and online I am.  When I’m not by a computer—I’m by my phone.  And from there I have access to all five of my  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.  Also unceasingly at my fingertips, are my Facebook profile, Twitter feed,  Instagram, both tumblr accounts, Spotify, Postagram, Voxer, Seamless, Whatsapp…oh and did I mention I have the ability to call and text message?

My social media capital is abundant.  The means by which I can communicate with my 1,006 digital friends are endless—and as a result, largely meaningless—tying me rather tenuously to the people in my life.  I reminded myself this morning, that “liking” isn’t a sufficient form of me reaching out and to be “liked,” while flattering, is hardly self-validating of one's own self-worth.  I’ll also be the first to admit that I’m almost never really laughing out loud when I punctuate sentences with “haha.”

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not evangelizing against all of these things.  I am grateful that this perpetual sense of connectedness is possible.  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.  But I am also acknowledging that this connectedness is also an option (customizable and adjustable as needed).

Today, I’m embarking upon a John-Mayer-circa 2010 digital cleanse at least until January 1, 2013.  All my digitalisms are shadows of things that could be real: held in my hands, heard in a voice, felt even.   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.  

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.  If I am lost, I will stop and ask for directions.  (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.  Calls and texts only.  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.  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.  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.  

Cheers, to shedding some digital dead weight. 

-Elaine