GIVING up things for New Year is common practice nowadays; cigarettes, alcohol and junk food being the favourites.
In this day and age though, I realised that (along with shopping), one of my main vices is social media.
From the moment I wake up and check my iPhone, then log onto my computer at work, to going online in the evenings, I am constantly on a social networking site.
Twitter is probably the most addictive, with its stream of news, gossip and jokes from around the world updated every nano-second of the day.
The rest of the newsdesk, total Twitter fanatics themselves, were unconvinced that I would be able to last a day without logging on, let alone the week that I proposed, but I determinedly announced my temporary departure to my followers and friends and signed out at 9.30am last Wednesday.
Five minutes later, after a flurry of (ok, two), email notifications telling me my Tweeps were distraught at my departure, I signed back in to turn the notifications off. I think that’s called falling at the first hurdle.
Undeterred, I persevered, browsing news sites before our morning newsdesk meeting, feeling very isolated from the world without the updates on the Luton News or police Facebook pages or from Lutonians on Twitter.
I wonder if anyone is missing me.
Once you’ve got into the habit of checking these sites every few minutes, it’s hard to stop yourself. I discovered there were many times in the day when I automatically reached for my phone and went to click the Facebook app, or started typing the address into the web browser.
Walking to the car park, waiting for the kettle to boil, even when on the cycling machine in the gym. Consequently this week I found myself pedalling a lot faster as I was concentrating on what I was doing rather than drifting along distracted by new photo uploads.
In the evening, I avoided switching on my laptop because I was sure I wouldn’t be able to resist temptation. Instead I took the time to text my friends personally to find out about their days instead of just reading their facebook statuses. Disaster nearly struck when arrangements for drinks were made on Facebook, but fortunately someone remembered me and called me to let me know – how quaint and old fashioned!
By Thursday morning, I’d gone 24 hours without logging on and all I wanted to do was tweet about my success. For some, 24 hours would prove an impossible task as a study called 24 hours: Unplugged at the University of Maryland in 2010 showed.
The students taking part in the challenge there found that they struggled to last, and when writing about their experience afterwards spoke about their dependence on social networking as if it were a real addiction.
However, they went one step further than me and disconnected themselves from phones, texts and email, which would not only terrify me but also make my job totally impossible.
I’ll admit, after 72 hours I cracked and went on Facebook, when the thought of all the photos from New Year’s Eve being on there for all the world to see, with my friends commenting on them and me being left out of the banter became too much to bear.
I fared better without Twitter and surprisingly, after I reached about the 24-hour mark, I didn’t miss it much. I got a flicker of isolation when someone in the office would mention a ‘trending topic’ or a conversation that was going on, but other than that, if you don’t know what’s happening you don’t miss it.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we have become so enamoured with social media, but it can be exhausting.
After my week offline, I’ve decided I firmly believe in ‘everything in moderation’, and while I’d struggle to cut myself off from the social media that is so ingrained in modern life forever, I know I can cut down on the habit if I need to.
And sometimes, nothing beats an old fashioned phone call or chat over a cuppa to catch up with a friend – the juiciest secrets aren’t shared online – so we shouldn’t neglect traditional methods of communication in favour of shallower means.
I’m quite proud of myself for more-or-less completing the challenge, resisting temptation despite being on a computer all day.
With iron-like willpower like this, maybe now I can tackle the shopping habit...
> I challenge you to see how long you can last without logging on – now that I’m back online you can tweet me @LutonNewsConnie and let me know how it goes!