I'm off the grid for a while

A few weeks ago, I wrote a short article (tiny piece really) about my overabundance of social networking accounts. I have profiles on Facebook, twitter, foursquare, BBM, AIM, oovoo, tumblr and here obviously; coupled with texting, emails and of course phone calls. Depsite the fact that I'm so overly available, it feels like there's more of a disconnect than ever. So, on a whim on Sunday afternoon, I disabled most of those accounts. I'm not really sure why I did it, although I have been giving it a lot of thought. Within an hour of deleting them (I got rid of facebook, AIM, oovoo, twitter and foursquare), I was feeling the disconnect. Watching tv, I wanted to tweet a quote from Bridezillas. It wasn't until I realized that I had purged the application from my phone that I remembered.

[*Note: I didn't delete text messaging, email, etc. because I still need them for my everyday life. And this blog is like my bootleg version of therapy/counseling]


Being in the dark about my friends' lives has given me time to reflect on what it is that I'm really missing. I think each of us has that "friend" that we knew way back when, but haven't seen in forever. Every time you see yet another asinine status update you want to unfriend them; but you don't because you'd feel guilty.
She was the first one to "like" your new profile picture. Or he always leaves a nice wall comment. Plus, there's the reactions of your mutual friends, "Why'd you delete So-and-So?" So, you hide that "friend" from your newfeed rather than deal with the hassle.

And, that's part of the problem. Social networking takes away from our social skills. Instead of learning how to politely end a relationship (friendship or otherwise), we have the option to sweep it under the rug. Even on twitter, instead of dealing with hurt feelings from unfollowing someone, you can simply 'mute' them. I myself, am a 'confronter'. I know it's not a good trait, but I'm working on it. Hiding or muting someone isn't the best option either; it's passive-aggressiveness at it's finest. Now that I've taken myself out of the matrix, I have the chance to step back and watch how I interact with people. My little exercise hasn't yielded any startling self-discoveries -- yet.  But, it is easier to pay attention. These past 3 days have given me a break from refreshing my newsfeed every 10 minutes, and helped me spend more time on creativity and productivity. My little notebook is filled with brainstorming ideas and doodles. I've got some nice little tricks up my sleeves already

I'll be making my triumphant return to Facebook soon enough (Nov 1st bayby). But for now, I'm enjoying the virtual silence.