Article by Ceri Wheeldon
For the past 5 years I have spent much of my day (and my evenings) looking at screens. Whether it has been writing copy, conducting research, editing videos or posting and interacting on social media.
I am rarely anywhere without some sort of digital device with me, whether a phone, tablet or laptop. For various reasons I reached the end of 2015 exhausted, and when friends invited me to stay for a few days for a little R&R I went- armed with a bag of technology, fully intending to keep up to date with all my social media accounts..but…..I really was exhausted. I took the radical decision (for me) to keep everything packed away…and avoid all screens, using my phone only for calls .
Amazingly my world did not fall apart. I had lots of long lazy lunches with good friends and long walks. I slept far better and after extending my visit for a few extra days came home far more refreshed. There were no major incidents as a result of me taking myself completely out of the loop for a week. Facebook, twitter,pinterest etc and my website all continued to march on without me!
Now I can restart with more energy and enthusiasm. I do realise though that I need to have definite breaks away from all screens. We seem to live in a society now where we are expected to be contactable 24/7 . Between phone calls, texts, skype, viber, facetime, whatsapp, twitter, facebook, Gplus, emails, instagram, linkedin the ways to contact and be contacted seem to be endless!
As much as I love interacting with people I do appreciate the importance of switching everything off and being disciplined enough not to check all of my various accounts!
Are we in social media overload? What are your thoughts?
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