You read that right. Two weeks without Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Email, this blog, or my iPhone (Yes, I’m throwing that in for good measure).
I can already feel sweat beads forming on my forehead. I’m getting that dry feeling in the back of my throat. There’s a searing pain rising to the front of my head. I’m nervous. I’ve never done this before. I’ve always been connected, even while on vacation. Sad to say, really. And that, my friends, is precisely why I am attempting to do this and why I am making it public on this blog. You’re all my accountability partners. Congratulations!
What in the world am I going to do? More importantly, how in the world am I going to do it? It’s not going to be easy. So, why am I doing this? It’s simple- my wife and kids deserve it. They deserve me. Undistracted me. For that matter, so do I. So does my brain. So too my thought process.
I began blazing this trail last summer when I disconnected from my email for nearly two weeks while on a family vacation. It was surprisingly easy. When I returned a good friend of mine said, “That’s great that you did that with your email but what about Twitter, Facebook and Instagram? I saw you all over those while you were on vacation.” Ouch! He was right. I realized I had spent my entire vacation checking Facebook and Twitter and posting pictures on Instagram.
Social media is tough to disconnect from, as you well know. It’s way more than information. It’s sort of a way of life. When used consistently, it intertwines itself in our emotional, spiritual, intellectual and relational mainframe. That can be good or bad. Social media is an active part of our lives.
I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. But I’ve personally realized, as I’ve thought about doing this, that I’m hyper-connected. I have little to no margin because of the time I give to social media, email and my phone. I’m always on one or more. Even when I’m supposed to be disconnected. I wonder how much I’ve been missing with my wife and kids because of this? I fear a lot. In fact, I know it’s a lot. Therefore, it’s time for a change!
So, I’ve decided to do this. I’m disconnecting (or fasting) from this blog, my Twitter feed, my Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram profiles, my email and my iPhone for close to 2 weeks while we are on our family vacation.
Here’s my disclaimer-
- I will begin the fast this coming Sunday afternoon, March 31st at 3 pm. I will end the fast on Saturday night, April 13th.
- During the [almost] 2 weeks, a good friend of mine will be managing this blog, so there will be guest posts from some terrific writers posted. You won’t want to miss them. There will also be a couple of pre-written posts by me. The blog will go on without me (at least for 2 weeks) :-).
- I’m going to leave my iPhone in airplane mode during my vacation. I’ve never left it like this for that length of time. This will be interesting. Again, I’m way too connected way too much of the time, so I need this!
- Anything that comes through on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, including the guest blog posts and reposts, between 3/31 and 4/13, will have either been pre-scheduled by a social media scheduling app called Hootsuite, or manually scheduled by my friend.
- I will be un-reachable on all social networks, this blog, my email and phone during this time.
I’m half excited, half nervous. I don’t want to fail. Not just because I wrote this post, but because I want to be dialed in to my wife and kids. I want them to know how important they are. My success with this will be the proof of that. Selfishly, I also know I will miss stuff on Twitter and Facebook. I’m just going to have to get over that, I guess.
See you on the 13th! Feel free to hold me accountable for any slip-ups you may see. You’re my accountability partners, remember? 🙂
