How often do we see people talk about going on vacation and disconnecting from the Internet only to see the same people live-tweeting their vacations? I have no problem with it. Hey, it's a personal decision to share information while on vacation. My preference would be to actually disconnect from computer, email and social media while out on vacation. Guess what? That's exactly what I did starting on Friday and lasting until Sunday night.
Now, to be totally upfront - I did post a Happy Mothers Day note to my Mom, and uploaded photos from my trip on Sunday night. Other than that, I did none of the following:
- Tweet or retweet
- Post Facebook status updates
- Like or comment on any Facebook status updates/photos
- Make any transactions on Empire Avenue
- Upload any photos to Flickr
- Write any blog posts
- Insert social media activity here
Last week, I realized that I needed some time away. No computer or time on the interwebs. I'd heard great things about the Hotel Valencia in San Antonio and made a reservation. I made no plans except to eat, have a few "pops," sit by the water and visit a few historical sites. Oh, and have I mentioned not take my computer? That's exactly what I did.
(this was my view during breakfast on Day 2)
This little vacation was exactly what I wanted/expected. It was great to get away, even if it was only 90 minutes away from home. However, and it's a big however, I did learn a few interesting things about myself and my interactions in social media:
- I was totally out of the loop on major news events. It became pretty clear early in my stay that I rely on Twitter for breaking news. Without it, I had no clue what was going on. I had no idea that golfing legend Seve Ballesteros had died. I had no idea that Peggy Noonan wrote another clueless editorial calling for the release of the Osama bin Laden death photos. Again, I was going for disconnected, but this experience showed just how reliant I was on others for news. Good? Bad? I don't know. New reality? Probably!
- I missed connecting with friends. And no, in this case I don't mean "social media friends." I mean actual friends. Now, I was connecting with friends via text message but that wasn't nearly the same. I had no idea what was going on with people I would call friends. If it were an emergency, they would've gotten in touch with me, sure. However, I care about my friends quite a bit and like to know what's going on with them.
- Disconnecting is much harder than most of us proclaim - Twitter, Facebook, reading blogs and checking emails are all part of my daily routine. Breaking that is VERY hard. To proclaim a disconnection from what I do every day is overly simplistic and wrong. Yet me, and several others I know proclaim they are doing it on a daily basis. I wonder if we were all true to ourselves whether we'd admit that the disconnection is some superficial self-imposition that we feel makes us "cooler?" That we can just turn it off and turn it on? Who knows. Issues like that are beyond my pay grade.
- You can't make left turns from the center lane in San Antonio - My weekend almost got derailed early when I cut off a bus that I thought was stopped. Whoops? Thankfully, no ticket.
Here's the bottom line - It was great to disconnect for a few days. I found it mentally refreshing. However, social media is a part of my everyday life. Going forward, I'll continue to look for these opportunities to take some time away. However, never again will I proclaim it to be easy to just "pull the plug." If that makes me a workaholic or a bad person or a nerd, so be it. That's who I am.
