I'm off the grid: Day 5

The worst part of all this social networking abstinence is sitting down in front of my computer and feeling unsure of what to do next. The best part is eliminating all the options I previously had from my mind and thinking, “Well, I guess I’ll do some homework.”

This is one of the best decisions I’ve made in a while and let’s just say, with me, good life decisions are few and far between.

I’ve been spending less time in front of my computer, a benefit I probably won’t fully appreciate until this weekend when forecasts predict the weather will be beautiful and I’ll be working on end-of-semester projects and papers.
An added bonus: I don’t feel as stressed as I usually do. I don’t know if this is because I’m spending less time browsing the internet, therefore using my time to get things done and then relax, or if it’s because there’s some kind of stress associated with browsing profiles and message boards.

We all have that one passive-aggressive friend who uses their statuses to convey their frustration with the people in their lives. Am I the only one who always wonder if they’re talking about me? That kind of stuff stresses me out a little, even though it shouldn’t. Since starting this experiment, I can now file that kind of worry under the “I’ve stopped caring” category.

I feel good, except for feeling a bit like I’m keeping a secret from people. But then again, if there’s someone out there missing my oh-so-compelling tweets and status changes, I feel it’s my responsibility to invite them to try this “off the grid” experiment as well.

I fell off the wagon a little bit earlier today in what I’m going to call a stupid mistake. Going into this, I resolved to stay off message boards and forums of any kind because I think they clearly fit within the tenets of social networking. That being said, I have continued to visit Fark.com for the strange news and hilarious headlines while staying off the forums. Even if I’m not actively posting anything, I think lurking is as much a part of social networking as anything else.

There was a story I desperately wanted to read and thought the information was so vital to my life, I had to click the source link. The link wasn’t working. Often what happens when a link gets posted on Fark from a small Web site, the huge influx in click overloads the server and crashes the site. Inevitably though, some Farker copies and pastes the story into the associated forum. Naturally, I found this link to be dead and clicked immediately into the forum.

Off the wagon I fell.

Like most people nowadays, I encountered a problem on the internet and reached out to other people on the internet to help me. It’s such a common practice, Yahoo! Answers — a site that allows users to pose questions to other users in hopes of getting valid replies — has thrived on the model.

This all brings me back to my post for Day 4: Social networking is unavoidable. Even today’s in-class presentations in my COM475 class revolved around using Facebook and Twitter to communicate messages to an audience and target a specific demographic. It’s everywhere.

But let me be your inspiration to step away from the keyboard. You can do it. Besides, the weather is about to get gorgeous. If all else fails, get outside, take some pictures of your friends sporting sexy sunglasses and make a new Facebook album. At least you can say you tried.

(On a side note, I’ve appreciated the positive comments. But now I’m asking for input: Is YouTube.com a social networking site? Am I banned from it for the remainder of the week?)