so this last week i took a complete break from any and all forms of social media (facebook, twitter, blogs, etc.) there were a number of reasons i felt like i needed this detox, one of which is a seriously disturbing new york times article on how social media affects your ability to focus. another was a documentary i watched about some effects of constantly being connected, but ultimately i just wanted to unplug. after a week w/ no social media i came to a few conclusions:
1. experience lines up with research from the article: social media really does mess with your ability to focus. i found myself at the beginning of the week randomly wanting to check in during studying or some other task i was doing. by the end of the week i was already much more single-track and able to stay focused without that random impulse to check a billion different snippets of whatever (the previously linked NYT article explains how social media can actually create a chemical addiction in the brain). this probably ought to seriously trouble anyone who is concerned with productivity in themselves or their employees.
2. NO ONE uses email anymore for personal interaction. seriously. i think its only use is for business these days. upon reflection, i find this to be somewhat troubling, but not because i'm old school and think the newspaper or printed books or the postal system should never be trumped by e-formats (though i really do think there's something different about holding a book in your hands. call me sentimental. :) i think what it says is we are losing the art of communication. we try to trump quality and depth with volume (always a bad philosophy in my view). it is a rare skill to fit anything meaningful into 140 characters. i also believe the way we present ourselves is different when we think "the collective web-consciousness" is watching than we do in a real, personal interaction with one or a few people. this inevitably leads to a degree of superficiality (that hopefully does not take over how we relate in general). i wrote a lengthy blog post on this idea a couple years ago (back when facebook had less than 100 million users if you can imagine that! :) you can find it here. (however, social media is very effective and time-saving. then again, so is a microwave, but i question the side-effects both might cause with over-exposure.)
3. most of what gets posted on facebook or twitter is, well, trivial at best. :) no offense to anyone. i post as much as the next guy. but seriously, read through a couple scrolls of your facebook homepage or twitter feed and ask yourself what that really added to your day. i'm guessing the majority (not all) of the time the answer is "not much".
4. detox is a good thing. i do not plan to quit using any of the forms of social media i'm plugged into. it is very convenient and like i said, no one uses email anymore. plus i use it to get church info/resources out. however, i think i'll probably continue to have occasional detoxes so as not to be over-exposed to the social-media-radiation that is the 21st century. if you can't remember the last day you didn't check facebook, twitter, your blog feed, etc. that may be a good sign it's time for a break. seriously, take a day, two, a week, whatever and just unplug. read, pray, enjoy real communication with living people. you'll be glad you did.
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