Time Out: Gaining Perspective and Fighting Social Media Burnout
Today, bBoth Colin Walker and Sarah in Tampa are both talking about taking some time off from the always-on social media life.
Colin rightly says that
“the conversation will go on without you regardless of who you are. People will still have ideas and discussion will still develop around those ideas.”
And Sarah adds to that:
The conversation will always be there, I’ll join it when I can. I don’t need to be in on every thread, every time. These tools are supposed to be enhancing our enjoyment of the web – they’re not supposed to addict us, pressure us, or feel like work. If they feel that way to you, then you need to take a breather too.
Both are making some excellent points in their posts. For me personally, it’s not even so much about taking some time off from it all to avoid burning out. I fully enjoy my vacations without feeling the need to turn on my laptop to check the news while I’m at a beach – something that tells me that I’m not a complete addict.
What’s more important for me, though, is to get away from it all now and then just to gain some perspective.
But Colin also makes a good argument in his post about how difficult it is to pick up the discussion again after you have left for a while. I know that for myself, I’m only now picking up steam again – a full week and a half after I came back from a two-week blogging hiatus. Once you are out of the loop, you need to invest some time and energy to insert yourself back into the conversations again.
On the other hand, being outside of the loop gives you something very valuable: perspective. As I have bemoaned far too often already, it’s very easy to get caught up in the maelstrom that is the tech blogosphere, where we all chase the next big story or scoop. Being outside of that scene for a while gives you the ability to look at it and see what a carnival it all really is. And yet – I never regret being sucked back into it all – because, at least for now – I don’t feel any pressure to participate – I only do so because I enjoy it.