Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Need to Unplug?

I have recently read several articles about unplugging and how most people either don't or at least hide the fact that they don't unplug on vacation. I have been on two trips in the past 3 months. One trip I didn't even open my work e-mail from the day I left work until the day I returned. On the other I deleted unwanted e-mails every 2-3 days, but left all others to be taken care of when I returned. That has never really been a problem for me. When I leave work I am typically able to leave it at work.

In my mind, social media is a whole other animal. Allison and I took a hiatus from social media during Lent. We didn't check or post to Facebook or Twitter during this time and I will tell you, both of us are glad we did this. It showed us how much time we spent looking at these and I don't think either one of us have gone back to the level that we were at before Lent.

I will admit, I love social media. I love community and I am a natural extrovert. I have an account on many of the social media outlets and check many of them daily. I also realize that sometimes we should be unplugged. Allison and I have certain rules that we try to go by with regard to our phones and computers. I haven't done this, but I wonder if from time to time we should just unplug completely? Turn off all forms of communication or at least don't answer them unless it appears to be an emergency. I can't guarantee this will happen, but I think I may try to do this on a regular basis.

What about you? Do you go by any rules when it comes to social media, smart phones, e-mail, ect? Do you unplug on a regular basis?

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