blackout.

so for the past few weeks, i slipped slowly into an experiment of sorts. i went on a social media blackout.

this is something many of us will oft claim and consider, and perhaps for my reasons below, or while on holiday to a faraway, strange place (but ultimately never commit to thanks to the growing # of internet cafes).

sitting in the local airport on a sunday, staring at my phone, i decided to simply stop. engaging or paying attention, whether it be via my own updating, or reading anyone else's thoughts anymore (Levar Burton and MC Hammer alike). with little exception, (some official "WIR" administrative stuff) i even let my Facebook consumption drop to practically nill. and to little/no surprise, i quit writing/reading my blogs (sorry Google Reader). casual email and IM stuck around, because, well, i've been on those since i was 13.

did it it help that i spent a week for work in my recently-departed hometown? or that i decided to view EVERY episode of the Wire (which is another post completely)? or that an out-of-town friend came for a NY visit? perhaps. but such things have hardly stopped me in the past.

did the world fall apart while was gone? no.

was i any less in the know? maybe (my mom DID get an iPhone).

did any of it matter? not really.

so then why did i do it? as social a person as i can be, it just became too much. when i first started using Facebook years ago, there were relatively small communities, where i could converse, share, and comment in a deferring, delayed manner with a handful of people that i cared about. but before long, more people i knew joined, added me, and it quickly became a broadcast medium for all.

my habits quickly shifted away from Facebook to that of Twitter (though thru linking the two i allowed the prior to see what i was doing on the latter), and i found a small crowd of mine that had migrated over, and the informative, entertaining, but oft-indirect conversations continued. i was soon also following the tweets of the Onion, the New York Times, Darth Vader, God, Mashable, MC Hammer, and yes, Levar Burton (Geordi!). and then everyone ELSE joined. and everyone was broadcasting again, rather than talking to eachother.

i guess i just got tired of the inconsequence of it all. so i stopped.

so during the "blackout," did i read more? write more? draw more? work more? no to all of the above. i just carried on with my life as i had once done before. i still talked to friends. shared things. made plans. i cooked dinner and did the laundry. i even started riding my bike around again.

i'm sure i'll inevitably jump back into the bandwagon of the next big thing in the "social media" sphere...to some extent, it's part of my world (professionally), but even THAT has me begging the question of if i even belong there.

so what's the lesson learned here? none of this social media stuff really matters. the social stuff, sure. people matter. but when the media/medium/technology goes too far (it does have it's place...i feel that it's simply overstepped it's bounds), it becomes a crutch, for something that was already meaningful enough.

we'll see what happens from here.