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The Power of Disconnecting from The Net

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This will mark the third year in a row I’ve decided to disconnect from technology and the Internet. It started in 2010 when I took a 4+ month sabbatical from social media in general. No blogging, Facebooking or Tweeting. Last year I took the month of August off.  I’m going to do it again this year for a few weeks. Aside from the preschedule blogs posts I’ve written (and their corresponding tweets), I’ll be pretty much offline.

I tried to find a photo of a black hand unplugging, but to no avail. So this will have to do. Image © photosteve101 on Flickr.

Why?

There are three primary reasons why disconnecting from technology and the Internet (particularly social media) is good for you:

  1. It allows you to RE-connect with family and friends. (Real friends. You know. The kind you actually talk to and see on a regular basis in the physical world).
  2. It clears your mind and soul of the negativity that can build up from too much social media connection. That negativity includes gossip, trolls, as well as getting down on yourself because you compare yourself too much to others (e.g. other people’s work, other people’s number of Twitter followers, etc.) I’m sure none of you deal with that. It’s probably just me.
  3. Perhaps most importantly, it helps break you of any addiction to social media. How do you know if you’re addicted. If you can’t go more than a couple of hours without checking your tweets, email, Pinterest or Facebook timeline. If while waiting in any line, you pull out your smart phone to tweet and Facebook. If you’re at dinner with your significant other and you’re tweeting and Facebooking. If before you go to bed you tweet and/or Facebook. If while IN bed you tweet and/or Facebook. Get the drift.
© Zack Arias

Every year I do this I challenge my readers to join me. Don’t know how many actually do. But once again, I strongly suggest you do it.

Blog Posts

But never fear my loyal blog readers, I shall not leave you hanging. I’ve written and scheduled blog posts to keep you educated and inspired, from business topics to filmmaking and photography. Not to mention some great Crossing the 180 episodes, including one with Bruce Logan (this week) and Sweatpants Media, the guys who shot with the GH2 in Zacuto’s Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout of 2012. Because of my social media break, I won’t be replying to comments though.

Just Do It

So. Who’s with me? At least try it for a week. Or for the rest of August. Try completely disconnecting from social media and see what happens. I promise you won’t die. And all the drama will still be here when you return.

Comments

  1. Great idea! A suggestion for those who might actually curl up and die if they go totally cold turkey is the Freedom app (http://macfreedom.com/) for Mac. It’s like a strict Aunty that slaps your wrist if you try to go online when you promised yourself you wouldn’t. It’s been invaluable to me.

  5. I do this on a daily basis. When I leave the office I’m a distant memory until the next morning. I never take work home and it’d be pointless asking me to. When I’m at home with my family I’m not on the web, or on Twitter or whatever. We eat meals around the table together every evening, we discuss our days and share stuff. Technology only rules your life if you let it – learn some discipline and get your priorities straight.

  6. Some of us need to wean slowly. Taking a few hours off today and more tomorrow with a goal of total disconnect for next week. Already worried I might miss something, sheesh.

  9. Two months ago I deactivated my facebook account and facebook told me that it would be deleted within the next 9 months.
    I am sure I will never use facebook in my life because I don’t think it is useful and I hate to spent time on reading what other people think or do.

    To take a break from social networks is definitely a good idea, to stop with it is in y opinion better.