{"id":3024,"date":"2011-08-21T14:14:49","date_gmt":"2011-08-21T19:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=3024"},"modified":"2011-08-21T14:14:49","modified_gmt":"2011-08-21T19:14:49","slug":"a-week-without-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/08\/21\/a-week-without-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"A Week without Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A week ago, I decided to give up social media for 50 days.<\/p>\n

A few days ago, I read an article about a writer talking about how he lived without Facebook and Twitter for 2 weeks<\/a>. (The thing that hit me was how he mentioned “Lived…without”–Implying that social media has become something vital to our lives. For many, it has. The other thing that hit me: that simply going two weeks without social media is an act considered worthy of an article…it really shows just how much we rely on certain sites.)<\/p>\n

There’s a link in that article to another article<\/a> about how obsessed people are with their smart phones. My favorite quote from that article:<\/p>\n

“People don’t like thinking hard,” says Clifford Nass, a professor of communication and computer science at Stanford University. Constantly consulting your smartphone, he says, “is an attempt to not have to think hard, but feel like you’re doing something.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a writer, I still think hard about things, but I must admit: I don’t do it as often as I once did because <\/em>I have Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other things with me at all times. At the very least, social media does <\/em>give me a feeling like I’m doing something, when many times–I’m really just wasting time.<\/p>\n

That’s what I’ve noticed so far: just how much time social media can waste.<\/p>\n

It’s Not without its Benefits<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I’m not about to do a 180 and say social media is bad. I know people who make a very decent living because of social media. I miss the publishing news and other things that came my way because of the way I’ve set up Twitter and Google+. And I miss some of the conversations I have on most days about writing, publishing, and other interests.<\/p>\n

But I’ve also come to see how much time I lose each day that can be better spent on other things.<\/p>\n

For me, it’s not that social media is a waste of time…it’s just that being forced to look at my habits last week that I came to realize I had some priorities out of order.<\/p>\n

First Thing each Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My mornings used to go something like this. I’d wake up (usually before the alarm clock) and instantly think about the writing I’d do soon. I lied in bed thinking about writing first thing every day–and then I’d get up, go to my office, and start writing. The words flowed from the start because I began the day relaxed and plotting out where a particular story or article was going to go before rising.<\/p>\n

Lately, I wake up and still think about writing, but that momentum is interrupted when I finally decide to get moving. That’s when I reach over to the nightstand, put on my glasses, and check my iPhone. I check email and then start the first sweep through social media sites.<\/p>\n

There’s a certain physical satisfaction in seeing what’s going on “out there” in the world; what your friends are up to…things like that. And when I sit down at my desk, instead of going straight to writing, I often do another sweep of some sites and check my blog reader. Sure, when I’m done with that, I go straight to writing and know where I’m going, but the act isn’t as satisfying with that interruption from social media.<\/p>\n

Last Week<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Last week, old habits returned. I woke up and had nothing to do but write. No sites to check, and while I could <\/em>read blog feeds when I sit down at my desk, the way things used to be has returned. I have the discipline, again, to not check email or blogs until I’ve written. I go from waking to rising to writing; that’s always worked best for me.<\/p>\n

Then <\/em>I check email and blogs–and even that no longer takes up much time. With the exception of some family and other writers, I don’t get much email since most of my friends communicate almost exclusively through Facebook and Twitter. I cut way back on blogs I read, so even in the morning or after work, there are only a handful of things that matter most to me to read–not hundreds of things I’ve added just to give myself something new to always see when I do a social media\/blog sweep.<\/p>\n

Is it Worth My Time?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another thing I used to do more often came back last week: I found myself looking at things and asking if they were really worth my time.<\/p>\n

I don’t watch much episodic television, but even documentaries and other one-shot things on TV that I like…I didn’t watch quite as much. I started watching Mad Men right before taking the break and decided, “Ya know, it’s well done enough and all, but I would rather spend my time writing or doing other things.”<\/p>\n

I read more, and spend even more<\/em> time just sitting and thinking, or clearing my mind and relaxing. I’m even more calm than usual, and I’m generally pretty laid back.<\/p>\n

One of the articles linked above mentions that people in a cell phone use study checked their phones an average of 34 times a day. All those quick checks are deceptive and add up throughout the day. Even if each sweep averages just a couple minutes, right there’s an hour of writing time many people say they don’t have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week ago, I decided to give up social media for 50 days. A few days ago, I read an article about a writer talking about how he lived without Facebook and Twitter for 2 weeks. (The thing that hit me was how he mentioned “Lived…without”–Implying that social media has become something vital to our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[39,37,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}