Social Media Overdose

I must confess that I'm overwhelmed by social media. I'm not consumed by it because I know I can live without it. Just that I'm caught up with it. I'm on Twitter all the time and it keeps me connected. I like how I am without it, but I like how I am when I'm on it! I seem to know much more than I would. And facebook as well, though that's to a lesser extent.

Also, I do feel an obligation to reply people on various platforms and even in my earnestness to do so, I still miss out on messages here and there.

But today I learned that I need the quiet. I need to get away from it all. I need to stop multi-tasking. Social media is all about what's happening now. More often than not it values immediacy over content, skimpy headlines over depth. I need to let my brain take in one idea at a time. And then shut it off when I feel like I need a break.

I do appreciate this sense of being super-engaged, speed-reading, thinking through many things at once. But I don't know if it's part of growing older, or maybe the fact that it's supposedly more sensible, or that maybe I'm tired and I can't engage in this hyper mode any longer.

For my sanity, I'll shut off more often. Decrease the frequency. Breathe. Pick up more magazines. Look out the bus window, think my own thoughts. Daydream.

And relax. The pressure to know more is on all the time, at work, at school, during travels. It take conscious effort to do the right thing at the right time.