Disconnecting to Reconnect

by Laurie Allee
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The mixed blessing of deleting my accounts...

Have you cut back on social media and noticed a weird reaction from friends and family?  Now, before I continue, let's get one thing straight: if you are proselytizing digital minimalism to people, then I understand their blowback.  There's nothing more annoying than someone ranting at you to do something a certain way.  Nobody wants a lecture about social media or phones. (They don't want one about politics, religion or child rearing, either.)  

I'm talking about the gut reaction from people when you mention you've quit Facebook or decided to put down your phone.  There's an undeniable defensiveness that comes out, and I think it's so strange.


Here's a sample of the kind of things I regularly hear:   

Unplugged

Come out from behind the screen!

by Laurie Allee

If you subscribe by email, click this to see the accompanying video
See my Life Analog introductory post here.

Phone junkie me.

When I first realized I might need to rethink my relationship with technology, I took baby steps.  You know what I mean: I only checked Instagram ONCE an hour instead of repeatedly, every few minutes.  I waited maybe five minutes after getting up to check Twitter, instead of taking the phone into the bathroom with me.  I put the phone on my nightstand instead of cradling it to sleep.  I mean, come on, I didn't have a problem.  I wasn't one of those phone people.  I could actually get through a dinner with someone by just sideways glancing at the phone on the table as notifications came in.  It wasn't like I picked it up.  (Well, not much.) 



I really thought I was just fine...