20, 20, 24 hours to go...

... and Ill be submerged back into Social Media. 

I'm not going to lie, I'm torn between whether I'll be glad to return to some level of normalcy, or if I'm glad to be free of the crap social media brings us.

89.3 FM, the Current (Who is going through their member drive right now, and if you LOVE public radio you should support them!) talked about yet another Facebook study, this one coming from our Packer and Cheese loving brethren to the East of us. It talks about how looking at one's Facebook wall can help self-confidence, while looking at other's posts tend to do the opposite.  I wonder if this has anything to do with that whole "I'm way more awesome on the internet" syndrome many of us are guilty of.

I've also been mulling around some of the changes I'll be implementing in my Social Media practices once I come back on.  They probably won't all be instant, as I do have a life, work, school, my severe Sims 3 addiction and my wife who are all more important than me broadcasting my random thoughts each day to the world. But a couple of them:

• No more friending/following people because I feel I need to: A) I have no illusions anymore that I'm ever going to be Game Informer's next big thing B) Enough of the Game Journo industry is too busy sniffing their own farts to realize their readership are even people anymore C) Most of them, frankly, piss me off to no end.  Oh, there are still a couple I adore (Ben Kuchera, Phillip Kollar, to name a few) but there are also a couple of almost Rush Limbaugh level video game "pundits" that I just don't need in my life anymore.
• Must refrain from controversial posts: I like politics, I cannot lie. You other brothers can deny...  But seriously, when has any statement, or subsequent 55+ comment thread ever changed anyone's mind?  I believe the number lies somewhere between never and zero percent.  All it end's up doing is making my blood boil and for me to hold ill tidings towards friends or people I know.
• Block Button/ Unfollow Button/ Hide Feed/ Zip Posts, are my friend: We can be friends, but I don't want to see your 14th meme post about Jesus by 11am, nor do I want to see a whole bunch of flamebait.  It's just not healthy for me.
• Likewise, I have to not set rules for others and break them myself: If I hate people being dicks online, I must also not be a douche cannon, nor should I post 57 times a day, nor should I also blast word pollution.

I'm totally open to criticism; this experiment has been as much about me needing to think about the practices I do online just as much as it's been me avoiding others.  I'm truly sorry for these practices and will do my best to work on preventing them in the future.