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This is a short article i complied for another site but think it might be relevant here. Dave x
Social Networks are playing a larger and larger role in
our lives everyday, this is not news, it's growth is well documented, just take
Rage Against the Machine having the Xmas number 1 as a prime example.
"I do have an addiction... and when I need to take a
break, I have my friend hide my phone somewhere I will not be able to find it.
That's the only way I can say good-bye for any significant period of time
:)"
Michelle Hillaert on: http://socialnetworkingrehab.blogspot.com/2009/12/140-steps-to-cure-your-social.html
It’s when it can start to impend upon ones mental and
emotional health that we need start worry. I am a prime example, having
recently reduced my facebook and twitter usage to nil in an attempt to attain
thought with greater clarity. I am not alone it seems. John Mayer has over two
and a half million followers on twitter and as of 9am 1st Jan 2010 for one
week:
*email only from laptop or desktop computers
*cell phones can only be used to make calls, and no text
messages or e-mails are allowed – if you receive a text, you must reply in
voice over the phone. E-mails must be returned from a laptop or desktop
computer.
*no use of Twitter or any other social networking site –
this includes reading as well as posting.
*no visiting of any entertainment or gossip sites. (No
need to detail which ones – you know what they are.)
As reported on TechCrunch:
"In his post announcing the Cleanse, Mayer likens
our increasingly scattered lifestyles to fragmented hard drives. It’s an apt
comparison — between sites like Twitter, Facebook, and multiple Email boxes,
most of us have data and friendships scattered across a dozen different places.
Mayer thinks giving some of these up for a while might be a good way to
“defragment” our minds."
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/30/john-mayer-digital-cleanse/
Something I attribute partly to a process examined here
is the feeling one gets when one arrives home after a long break away, mind
clean, priorities clear, and a simple pragmatic approach to what needs to get
done.
I might also reference here a similar state to that that
occurs for some when leaving hospital after a long stay. Long stays in
psychiatric hospitals by their very nature build camaraderie, nurture companionship
and of course meet all basic needs for shelter, warmth and food. Quite some
high, as I left to return home in spring 2007, with an approach that perhaps
still confuses, that being, the world is my oyster, my health is evangelical.
"Just a week ago I switched off my Facebook account
for just this reason. These sites claim greater social networking, but all it
really creates are more distractions for people, more isolation in front of
their computers, more escapism, and a false sense of relationships with other
people. People do not interact with each other properly, becoming more isolated
and so more depressed."
Travis Bochum on:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7898510.stm
Dr Aric Sigman, whose work this BBC article is based on
cites:
"It's not that I'm old fashioned in terms of new
technology, but the purpose of any new technology should be to provide a tool
that enhances our lives."
"In less than two decades, the number of people
saying there is no-one with whom they discuss important matters has nearly
tripled."
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