The time was 8:37 p.m.
I remember it so clearly, almost as if someone announced it over the foghorn in a crowded room. 8:37 p.m.
Just a minute earlier, it had occurred to me that I must undertake this challenge. I’d read about it, toyed with the idea, wondered if I could actually do it and decided that plunging right in was the only way to really find out.
And so began my 24-hour challenge: The aim was to go for 24 hours without access to the Internet.
It’s no news that we all feel overwhelmed by social media. It appears to be par for the course, actually. I’ve been reading a lot- online and offline- in the last couple of months that has led to a fragmented but better understanding of the whole complex algorithm that is social media interaction.
Remember my post, ‘The Myth about being connected?’ That actually came after a rather overwhelming month of blogging every single day in April, because of the A-Z Challenge.
Soon after that month, I slowed down from the frenzy of daily blogging and daily interactions, retweets, shares, comments and ‘likes’ to take a break from my blogs. I went away on vacation for two weeks and even deactivated my Facebook account for about three days.
Yet, when I came back from my travels, I noticed something interesting. I wanted to write again, blog again, feel the rush of words surging through the nerves in my finger tips and fly over the keyboard, saying what needs to be said. Mind you, this may be the fallout of a very relaxed, minimally- connected vacation, of course. But, whereas blogging challenges are all about how many connections (emotional/ intellectual) you can make and keep through your words, blogging or writing, by itself, is not. Let me explain. Continue reading “Overwhelmed by Social Media? Here’s what you can do”
