It’s been 6 days since I posted to, or read social media. I took a vacation and actually disconnected; well, sort of disconnected. I still used GPS and took photos on my phone, but no Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram updates. I thought it’d be hard but it turns out that it wasn’t so bad and I quite enjoyed it.
I started before my trip by muting people on Twitter I didn’t feel like reading while on vacation. People that posted a lot, had strong views, or that I felt I needed a break from. I’ve since realized that if I don’t want to read their updates on vacation maybe I shouldn’t be following them at all.
I also didn’t need to hear about the latest political issues, and there are so many of them. Just let me forget how screwed up everything is and relax. It’s ok not to know everything the moment it happens and sometimes ignorance is bliss.
I decided to give up social media on vacation because you can’t relax when you’re constantly reminded of everything that’s going on around you. If you’re anything like me you’re probably following topics and people relevant to your industry. Maybe even coworkers too. So if you are reading their updates on vacation are you still working? People on Facebook and Twitter do not need to go on vacation with you. Leave them behind and enjoy your downtime.
I do think it was worth the break and I hope I can continue to reduce the time on social media sites. I realize that social media has its place but it’s not everything. I did want to post a few pictures but I knew I’d get sucked back in fast if I did and determined it wasn’t worth it.
Will I be leaving social media? Nope. But I am going to try and cut back some. I’ll start by really reevaluating who I follow and trying to reduce how many times I check social media sites throughout the day.
Next time you go on vacation, I challenge you to leave social media behind and all the drama that goes with it. You can’t really relax if you bring all that baggage along with you. At the very least, don’t read everyone else’s updates!