Today on local radio station 89.3 FM The Current, they talked about a news story today where 61% of Facebook users have taken a "vacation" from the site. Amongst many of the reasons cited for it were people being too busy, or trying to get a break from drama. Now, if you know me, you know I'm an incredibly busy person, trying to constantly juggle 36 hours into a 24 hour day. I also hate drama and over all douche baggery a lot. I'm sure I've committed online dickery in the past, but I generally try to avoid it (Doesn't make much sense in me getting mad at others for something I'm knowingly and actively doing)
Well, today on Twitter, a speculatory news story broke out. Without boring you with details, it lead to some heated debate. That and some other discussions on Facebook generally irked me; not so much the disagreement as the attitude in which said discussion were conducted in.
So after proclaiming my abandonment of the internet for the day, I got to thinking about that story the Current's morning show had been discussing. I have talked with both my wife and my therapist about taking a break from social media, primarily due to the white rage it generally causes me, for a variety of reasons.
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| This is me after a day of Social Media viewing |
Therefore, I decided today is the day; I'm officially going on a week long hiatus from both Twitter and Facebook. Yeah, I use these services a lot! Whether I'm promoting articles I've composed, spouting off political dribble, or nerding out this or that, I probably post more than I should. I apologize if that's ever made anyone upset.
One thing that has always bothered me about social media, is, since its conception, I feel that interpersonal communications have broke down. No one ever calls or attempts to chat to see whats up, they simply wait for you to announce whatever news of the day on your Facebook wall. For an outlet that should bring people closer together, in my experience, its done more to drive people apart. I love going on GChat; it allows me to actually talk with people rather than getting into Wall post convos or trolling their wal's to find out what's up.
That being said, I've decided to engage on this social experiment to see how this affects me personally, my contact with others, my relationship with my wife (I have a sincere problem of always checking my phone), and just any other affects it has over the course of the next week.
If you need to get a hold of me, my email is citizen.d.rude@gmail.com. Those who I want to have my phone number have it. Try not to miss me too bad. :)
Good luck! :D
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