unplugging

While waiting for the oil to be changed in my car yesterday, I picked up a recent copy of Fast Company. I don't typically pick up magazines in waiting areas because I once read they are the filthiest, most germ infested things you can touch in a public place. But this one called to me (besides, I already had a cough).

The article was about a man whose whole life was digital: e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and a few outlets I had never used or even heard of. He used them for work, pleasure, and because he's a total ego-maniac (ie. gets his validation from how many people "like" when he checks in to an airport or takes a photo of his dinner). Until his secretary told him he was getting grouchy and needed a vacation from the Internet.

(Ironically my oil change was complete before I got through reading so I had to finish the article online at home.)

During his 25 day Sabbatical, Baratunde's revelations included:

1. It is incredibly difficult to disconnect yourself. In both a practical sense (how do I stop getting alerts on my phone??) and a spiritual sense (who am I? what do I do now?).
2. "I felt that I still existed despite not having shared documentary evidence of said existence on the Internet." He could go to dinner without telling everyone where he was, read a book without reviewing it on Goodreads, ask directions from a salesperson rather than Google maps, think of something witty and not need it validated by his "friends" -- most of whom he'd never met.  
3. He had meaningful exchanges with real people. Exchanges that wouldn't have happened if he'd been looking at his phone, checking in on Foursquare, or retweeting a dozen or more times a day.
4. Life was slower, less stressful, more intentional, more enjoyable, and more productive.

Because of his career, Baratunde can't unplug forever. But he did return to social media with new boundaries and new appreciation for face to face interactions. 

For me, I try to take Sundays off from the computer. I don't blog and I do my best to avoid Facebook. It is good for my eyes to get away from the computer screen and reminds me that rarely does anything happen on Facebook that I couldn't live, and live well, without knowing.

I have also started leaving my cell phone at home or in my car more and more often. This irritated my nieces at first because they like to look at pictures and play games, but I like being able to give them my full attention rather than jumping every time R2-D2 tells me I have an e-mail, call, or have been tagged in a post. I turn the phone off when I go to bed, or out to dinner, and half the time forget to turn it back on. I had 30 minute conversations with two different people yesterday, conversations that never would have happened if I'd been looking at my phone. 

EMBRACE UNPLUGGING.

Do you need a vacation from social media? How does the idea of "unplugging" make you feel? What boundaries might help you live a more productive, attentive, less stressful life?