I've been toying with getting off social media for a while now, thanks to listening to some interesting podcasts (like Note To Self) about the downsides of being always connected. I totally understand all the advantages, which is why I've been an avid user of Facebook and Twitter since they were both pretty new. It's the downsides though that I ignored. At least until last year when social media media became a full-on war zone around the presidential election. While Facebook kept me protected in a nice filter bubble, Twitter enabled me to see the opposing side, and how both sides seemed to not be even speaking the same language in many cases.
The other part of this is having a kid who is getting to the age (if not already there) where she is wanting to be on her phone non-stop. FOMO and the addiction to the dopamine hits of new stuff is a powerful thing, and going cold turkey sometimes is a lot easier. I want to show that it can be done and that I won't die of loneliness in a matter of weeks! But also prove to myself that getting out of the loop will ultimately lead to a happier, less stressed, more grounded sense of the world, other people and myself.
I did this before in January as a kind of "detox" from our electoral process. It was hard, but not horrible, so this time around I've challenged myself to at least a couple of months.
The other big difference this time, as evidenced by this blog post, is that I'm allowing myself an outlet of expression so that I can share things that I think others will find of benefit, whether those are links, thoughts, etc. I used to do this before social media came around via a blog where I mostly rambled on about technology, nutrition, and other things I was interested in at the time. Even before that, as a teen, I participated in online bulletin board systems (BBS's) where I would converse with dozens of other people from just the New York City area.
I think conversation is great whether it's in person or digital, but there does seem to be something insidious at times about how social media encourages one-upsmanship, self-promotion, and obsession with how many likes or comments a post or comment gets. That doesn't even touch on the nasty political arguments that can spring up which luckily I've been able to mostly steer clear of. Although my memory of them is a little hazy, the BBS's from my teen years had a lot more long, thoughtful posts and conversations, respectful dialog, etc. Sure, the demographic was pretty homogenous, but still.
Hopefully many of the future posts here won't be as long and rambling and might even fit in fairly well with what I used to post directly on Twitter/FB. And hopefully this will all work fairly seamlessly. I'm using the IFTTT web service to trigger posts on Twitter/FB when I post entries here with specific keywords. I think of it as a kind of social media buffer, a way to have my cake and eat it too. As such, if you want to respond, you're welcome to do so privately via email or under each of these posts here on the Blogger platform. Just know that I probably won't be going to Twitter or FB to interact, and probably will only go back on once in a blue moon mainly to do maintenance.
I will try to post an update specifically about how this continuing experiment is going at a later date once I get some additional perspective.
And now.... onto some actual posts!
The other part of this is having a kid who is getting to the age (if not already there) where she is wanting to be on her phone non-stop. FOMO and the addiction to the dopamine hits of new stuff is a powerful thing, and going cold turkey sometimes is a lot easier. I want to show that it can be done and that I won't die of loneliness in a matter of weeks! But also prove to myself that getting out of the loop will ultimately lead to a happier, less stressed, more grounded sense of the world, other people and myself.
I did this before in January as a kind of "detox" from our electoral process. It was hard, but not horrible, so this time around I've challenged myself to at least a couple of months.
The other big difference this time, as evidenced by this blog post, is that I'm allowing myself an outlet of expression so that I can share things that I think others will find of benefit, whether those are links, thoughts, etc. I used to do this before social media came around via a blog where I mostly rambled on about technology, nutrition, and other things I was interested in at the time. Even before that, as a teen, I participated in online bulletin board systems (BBS's) where I would converse with dozens of other people from just the New York City area.
I think conversation is great whether it's in person or digital, but there does seem to be something insidious at times about how social media encourages one-upsmanship, self-promotion, and obsession with how many likes or comments a post or comment gets. That doesn't even touch on the nasty political arguments that can spring up which luckily I've been able to mostly steer clear of. Although my memory of them is a little hazy, the BBS's from my teen years had a lot more long, thoughtful posts and conversations, respectful dialog, etc. Sure, the demographic was pretty homogenous, but still.
Hopefully many of the future posts here won't be as long and rambling and might even fit in fairly well with what I used to post directly on Twitter/FB. And hopefully this will all work fairly seamlessly. I'm using the IFTTT web service to trigger posts on Twitter/FB when I post entries here with specific keywords. I think of it as a kind of social media buffer, a way to have my cake and eat it too. As such, if you want to respond, you're welcome to do so privately via email or under each of these posts here on the Blogger platform. Just know that I probably won't be going to Twitter or FB to interact, and probably will only go back on once in a blue moon mainly to do maintenance.
I will try to post an update specifically about how this continuing experiment is going at a later date once I get some additional perspective.
And now.... onto some actual posts!
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