Turning it off.

21 June 2012 · Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

I’ve decided social media (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Foursquare, etc.) isn’t contributing anything meaningful to my life and may, in fact, be hurting my life in significant ways. So, I’m turning it off. If you want to talk, you either already have my phone number or can email me through the link at the bottom of this page.

Search teh Googlez for social media false connection and you’ll see over 22 million results, including this one that states the problem quite plainly:

[S]ocial media introduces two parallel and paradoxical elements—false intimacy and social distance.

I’ve made a few friends IRL through Twitter. I’ve been able to keep up on some of the goings on of friends and family through Facebook. But, it’s no substitute for face-to-face interaction.

That, and social media is a huge time sink for me. It’s like crack and I don’t have the discipline to reduce my consumption, so it’s cold turkey for me. There are things I want to do and the hours I’ll get back from this change will help me immensely to do them.

So, yeah, I’m unplugging. Mostly. I’ll still post photos to Instagram, but no longer spammed out to Twitter and Facebook and Foursquare. Yeah, maybe that’s hypocritical. Oh well. The difference for me is that Instagram is not a time suck.

So, drop me an email, give me a call, stop by my house. Let’s grab a coffee or a drink or a meal. Let’s go to a park and throw a frisbee or bump around a volleyball. Let’s go hiking, camping, beach combing, wine tasting. Let’s connect in real time, in real life. Just don’t expect to see me on the social medias. At least for now.