Yes it’s classified. My life on public display is in the process of being reduced. I’m taking back my privacy!
This summer has been good and bad for me. The whole year so far has been one of the most stressful that I can remember for a long time. Whilst we were away on holiday I made time to think about life, more specifically, my life and the lives of my family. Society, at the moment, seems to be wrapped up in it’s own little world with fewer and fewer people taking the time to make real connections with the people they live with. Everyone has become digitally addicted.
Social media is here to stay and it can be a huge benefit to many people. Unfortunately I’m finding it to be the opposite. For me it has become a burden, and as researchers have recently discovered, one in three people feel worse and more dissatisfied with their lives after visiting Facebook. I think I might be one of them? That being said it is a great way to keep in touch with the people I love and care about, so looking at it as a communication tool SM is useful.
There are dangers though. People seem to be becoming addicted to sharing every aspect of their lives within these various platforms, I know, I’ve been guilty of it myself in the not too distant past. Earlier this month I took part in a digital detox challenge in association with the Swiss company Punkt. During the challenge I had to refrain from using my smartphone for a 48 hour period, instead using one of the company’s MP-01 dumb phones.
The challenge went well and I managed to keep my smartphone switched off throughout the whole 48 hours. But I was twitchy. Not having the knowledge of the world in my pocket made me feel isolated at first. It was obvious I too had an addiction to my smartphone, its apps and its 4G data connection. After the first 24 hours the urge to check my various Twitter accounts began to decline and I welcomed the quietness that came with not having a thousand e-mail notification sounds beeping at me all day.
It felt good not having to tweet my progress. Luckily I’d already given up having Facebook on my phone, so that wasn’t an issue. What I missed more than anything was a feeling of connectivity. The Punkt phone is a quad-band handset that allows you to make calls and send text messages. That’s it. It’s minimalist and does exactly what a mobile phone should do. It highlighted that I very rarely receive calls from anyone other than perhaps four or five people in my life. Having a dumb-phone again took me to a place that I hadn’t been to for several years. It took me to a private place, a place for reflection and a place that gave me back the time I needed to enjoy being with my family.
So I’m winding down my social media life to perhaps two or three on the dial. I’ll only be checking in to my accounts once a week from the 1st of September. I’ll still write boring and pointless crap, here and more sparingly on social media. As always I can be contacted via telephone or e-mail and I do have a contact form available on this blog, so please stay-in-touch. As for me I’ll be avoiding the fear of missing out, the oversharing and the mindless memes and striving for a better way to spend my time. My social media use will be mindful and intentional and I’ll only be tweeting and posting things that add value to our lives.
Until next time….. Adieu.