I was up for the challenge. A vacation “truth or dare.” I made a choice to live a week without engaging in all Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.). So as engines revved, wheels went up, so began my quest for real vacation. As I departed, I detached, i.e. from my virtual world. I did this, I got away. I took the dare and discovered some eye-opening truths.
Everyone needs a vacation of some sort. Whether we opt to stay home or travel to take that break, we all yearn for a respite from the mundane. But vacations are personal. For some, it’s kept private, and yet others opt to post their travel experiences publicly on the Internet in real-time (myself included). As one who’s very active on Social Media both personally and professionally, I was curious about how this experiment would impact me.
Prior to take-off, I glanced at my last e-mails, FB news feed, tweets, texts, and “shut down. ” When I landed and turned my phone back on, the buzzing notifications of incoming e-mails, voice mails, and texts were manic. It was already interfering in my day. My initial impulse was to read and respond to all. As I looked around waiting for my baggage, I noticed everyone else’s heads down and glued to their phones. No surprise there.
It was in that moment that I had a significant shift in thinking. Other than my personal texts, it could all wait, couldn’t it? It occurred to me that if I were to resume my activity as if I weren’t on vacation, what was the point of getting away in the first place? Other than a change of scenery, would I really feel like I was on vacation?
As for my professional web presence, I could have automatically scheduled consistent posts to “appear” as if I were still in the office, but I was committed to an out of office status. Fighting off the demons of job spill, I chose to be “invisible.”
I’m not going to lie, early on during this exercise, I suffered from a little FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). So I confess to a quick and curious scroll (now and then), to my FB news feed, checking my e-mail senders, and opting not to interact. But that was the precise moment that both the challenges arose and epiphanies were revealed. I caught myself automatically wanted to “like” a post or a pic, but I resisted the urge and the tug to connect. I knew that with one simple click, I could be lured back into a habitual interaction.
Stepping away and removing myself from my virtual reality provided me with a different perspective. On the outside looking in, my familiar newsfeed felt estranged. I had distanced myself from my fans, friends, colleagues, and followers. I disconnected. I let go. At first, I felt compelled to keep up with the 24/7 broadcasts, but as the days wore on, it became increasingly irrelevant to read older posts from days earlier. Personally, not having to update my own postings, blogs, or interact with others felt very liberating. I was on vacation and it felt great!
It reminded me that there was a time and life before Facebook. Like old school, I wasn’t distracted with what other people were doing and went about my days visiting with family and friends. I limited my text messages and made real phone calls to anyone I wanted to contact. While I took one week out of my life to “get away,” I acknowledge it was only a week, and not a life-altering decision. It was my virtual cleanse, if you will. My claim is not to undermine the phenomenon or value of any social media. Above all, I don’t mean to appear hypocritical. I understood that I would jump right back in upon my return.
But I have to say that this imposed “time-out” was a clarifying experience. The consequences of my disengagement poked these questions;
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- Did I really miss out on anything?
- Did anyone even notice my absence?
- Does it matter?
- Have I regarded Social Media too high a priority in my daily life?
- Did the vacation feel different?
While the answers may seem obvious, asking the questions was very enlightening for me.
The most interesting part of this experiment was not immediately sharing a very exciting moment in my life. While golfing with a foursome of friends, I got a hole-in-one! We were jumping up and down and screaming with disbelief. After taking the pics, my first instinct was to post to Facebook and share with the universe. But I realized that this too, could wait. It will be no less relevant or exciting if I posted it when I returned home. This will be memorable forever.
Now back home, I’m back, both physically and virtually. I’m blogging, posting, tweeting and liking it, lol. I just needed the break. Can you do it? Truth or Dare?
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