Taking a Step Back

Recently, I have noticed how much time I spend on “social networking” sites such as FaceBook and Twitter. Mostly, this is due to an application I use called Slife (http://www.slifelabs.com/) which tracks my computer usage and, specifically, monitors the amount of time that I spend on particular websites. After reviewing the results of the tracking, I was somewhat alarmed by the extraordinary amount of time that I spend doing what I can only equate to wasting time.

This prompted a series of thoughts and decisions that lead me down the path to taking a break from it all. I had all of my passwords (at least to the sites in question) changed so that I don’t know any of them and, therefore, can’t get in and feed this addiction. It’s a bit drastic, I know, but I think it will be a very helpful change for a variety of reasons.

First, by disabling my access, I am now forced to fill my time with other, more productive, exercises. By creating this void in my time usage, I anticipated that I would force myself to focus more attentively on whatever task I had at hand. Such was not initially the case. Rather than being able to focus on a particular proposal, for example, I have found myself distracted by thoughts such as “I wonder what so and so is up to…I’ll just look them up on FaceBook…oh…wait…I can’t…” and so on.

One such example, to be very specific, happened last night. I was at a party with friends and we were, as to be expected, having a wonderful time in making nonsense and jokes. I snapped a picture with my phone and proclaimed “I’ll post this to FaceBook right away and tag you both in it!” before I realized that I couldn’t actually do so. Seconds later, after realizing my mistake, I informed them that I couldn’t as I am currently on a “break” from these time-wasters.

Surprisingly, this comment was received with enthusiasm and support. One of the three people involved in the conversation, my roommate from freshman year and trusted confidante–Tom, expressed that my decision was brilliant, saying that “that is a smart thing to do” and stating that FaceBook serves very few purposes, chiefly among them: wasting time. By no means is Tom an expert on productivity or achievement of goals; but, he still realized the wisdom in my decision and that there is true value in re-evaluating the importance of these “services” we so rely upon.

Also, I have found that I frequently think to myself “quick! let me twitter this thought I’m having…” but then realize that to do that would be both breaking my principled abstinence and giving in to my ingrained addiction. This, truthfully, has been an awakening experience. Simply sitting on the bus, riding downtown has changed from a time to be filled with means of entertainment to a situation that requires real, social interaction or, if nobody seems open to engagement, introspection. This fascinates me.

This is the first part of an ongoing series based around my new and developing opinions on social networking. I wrote this about 36 hours after initiating the self-imposed blackout. In the future, look for some more insights.