If you follow me on Twitter, or are friends on Facebook, you will know that I went into a social media blackout period during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Starting at 1:00 p.m. Friday afternoon, I shut down Twitter, closed Facebook and discontinued looking at my reader. To be honest with you, I did cheat one time on Friday afternoon, but that was only to correct the “public record.” 
In all seriousness, the folks that really know me thought it would be impossible. Guess what? It wasn’t! However, there were a few things I learned during the blackout period that I thought were worth sharing with you.
- I rely on you for a lot of information - it’s amazing to me how reliant we’ve (I’ve) become on third party sources for news. Whether it be links people post to Facebook, or share via Twitter, or even things I learn of after reading the blogs in my reader, I need you for information. Sure, there are plenty of things I can find on my own, but it is no where near as much as I can learn about when being connected to you.
- I missed interacting with you - for those that think social media is a big time sink, all you’d have to do it engage with people for a period of time and then take it away to realize how faulty that logic is. I missed reading status updates on Facebook. I missed tweets about college football on Saturday. I missed sharing professional experiences with people I’ve connected with on Twitter. And heck, I also missed checking out photos on Facebook (those are always must-view material after a long weekend!).
- Escape the echo chamber more often – one of the things I absolutely loathe about social media, particularly Twitter, is the constant recycling of the sames ideas. There are a lot of smart people on these social networks, surely we can come up with more original thinking then we do now, right? I had the opportunity to spend time with people this weekend that aren’t nearly as active on social networks as I am. Guess what? That was comforting. Sure, the topic of social networks came up, but their perspectives on the power (or lack thereof) was refreshing, and eye opening at the same time.
- Life would go on if social media disappeared tomorrow - don’t get me wrong, I don’t think social media is going away anytime soon. However, I do know that if the Facebook’s and Twitter’s of the world were to go away tomorrow the world would not come crashing down onto our heads. All that would likely happen is that we’d find new outlets to share our ideas — hey, maybe in face-to-face interactions? What a concept!
Anyway, have you had similar experiences where you haven’t accessed social media for several days? What were your takeaways?
The biggest takeaway is that LIFE WILL GO ON.
Sure we love SM & use and engage until there is no end, but we can survive a day or two without it. I think a day or two off will revamp your passion and cause you to seek the ideas/opinions of the “non-SM’ers”- which can only help.
Great post- you’re a brave, brave man.
Hi Evan – thanks a lot for the comment. My original intent wasn’t to reignite my passion (though it has done that)…it was originally intended to just see if I could disconnect myself for 96 hours. It worked!
Nice post.
I think it’s much easier to do a SM blackout on the weekend. You should try it during the week. I guess you couldn’t really do your job then though.
In a word…impossible.
Wow all the Evan’s are here today!
I’m with Ev, you’re a brave man for going the whole weekend (especially Labor Day weekend) without SM. I’m not gonna say I couldn’t do it, because I often have to cause of other activities, but to purposefully deny myself the interaction and information would be extrememly difficult. Did you find yourself thinking about it often? Did you watch something and wonder what @csledzik would say about it? That would have been me all day!
Good insights, hope “echo chamber” isn’t copywritten!
I thought about it a little, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t get to on Tuesday when I came in. Thanks for stopping by, Evan!
YAY! First, apologies for forcing you to cheat on Friday…but, you know, you could’ve waited until today to clear the air. :-p
It’s impressive how much we learn just stepping away for a few days, hm? I did it for less time than you and learned more than I expected — most importantly, like you said, I learned that life would go on without it. There’s a possibility we’d suffer slightly without it, if only from withdrawal, but we’d find something else to fill the gap.
For me, the best part was remembering there’s life away from my computer screen. I inadvertently took a bit of a break (again) this weekend and it was refreshing.
Okay, I’m babbling. Very nice job, Chuck. Seems like the break was good for you…I guess there’s a reason the phrase “all things in moderation” became so popular.
Wondered if you’d catch that shout out
Thanks, Teresa! It was tough, but I’d definitely do it again soon!
You are so right about life going on if Twitter or any other social network were to go away tomorrow.
I’ve found that the more we use these social media tools, the more they revert us to some old-fashioned relationship-building skills like the phone (Skype) and face-to-face at industry events. Most of the relationships I’ve developed on Twitter have lead to interaction beyond just Twitter, and although the social media tools help keep interactions frequent/real-time, the true value is in the long-term realtionships that develop. Plus, I know where you blog, ha ha!
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Cliche maybe but so true!
Hi Anna – thanks a lot for stopping by and adding your opinion. I greatly appreciate it. How we translate social media interactions into face-to-face ones is the real key to this game.