Social Networking Break

It may seem funny, since I only recently started adding links to things like Google+ and YouTube, but I am taking a social networking break.

What made me think of it?

My husband, Christopher, is a writer, and he has also been swamped with work from his day job.  He had read a few blog entries about taking a break from things like Twitter and Facebook, and he kept thinking about it.

He realized how often he would pick up his iPhone and check one of those places, and when he had a break or was waiting for something at his computer, he would find himself on those websites.

He finally decided he would start this experiment starting August 15th and until October 3rd (originally it was the 1st, but he thought it would be cool to go ahead and go 50 days).

I didn’t have to join him.

I didn’t have to join him, and in fact he was a little surprised when I said I would do it as well.  The thing is, he is one of the main people who actually reply to me on those various networking sites, so it would be a little lonely without him.

I also realized if I kept checking and talking about those sites, it would not only be a little bit of a temptation, but he would be able to get updates through me.

Why did I decide to do it?

Although I have had a lot of luck and tons of fun with networking and finding the costuming community, it also distracts from my time.  I would find myself procrastinating and not starting any of my sewing projects until later in the day, and I even found myself checking and chatting more than working on my blog!

When I finally did get around to sewing, I would frequently take quick breaks to go check a few things online before getting back to sewing.  While that is nice in a way — helping stretch muscles and giving my eyes a break — I was probably taking advantage of it a little.

I have plenty to do.

I already have a lot to do, both sewing and non-sewing related things.  Along with the above reasons, I thought it might help inspire me to push myself and see how much I can get done by my various deadlines.

I’m still around.

This doesn’t mean I am logging off from the Internet completely.  I need it to research costumes and sewing too much to do that.  I also want to make sure friends can get in touch with me.

While Christopher completely deleted apps from his iPhone and fully logged out from places like Facebook, I am just going to practice restraint and not go.

The only reasons I will use those apps or websites are when someone who doesn’t know how else to get in touch with me needs to contact me, and also for those who are wanting to follow me and need me to follow them back or allow the request.  I don’t want those people to think I am ignoring them.  In fact, just this morning I had someone totally new add me on Google+ who did not know I was taking a break.  Fortunately, the app allowed me to get to the Circles section, see who the person was so I could add them to the correct circle, and leave without looking at my friends’ posts.

I will also still be updating various things like this website when I have something to post about.

I have no idea what to expect.

It should be interesting to see how much I miss keeping up with people.  I’m sure I will miss out on a lot of news and things I would have liked to read about, but also — in the case of Twitter, for example — there will be a lot I won’t have to wade through.  I already skim Twitter since there is so much I’m following.  In fact, one of the reasons I checked Twitter so often was so I wasn’t flooded with hundreds of messages and miss something important.

It will be weird relying on news readers and email subscription to get the word out about my blog updates. I will not be able to post anywhere else to announce a new blog entry.  I suspect my traffic will slow down a little.

Here’s hoping I get a lot of work done and goals completed, and here’s hoping I don’t get tempted to quit the experiment too soon!