So I’m thinking about disappearing for a while.

There’s something really appealing about being able to disappear. I don’t know if it’s because I enjoy being mysterious, or if I simply come from a long line of cowards. MAYBE BOTH.

I don’t plan to stop podcasting or blogging. However, I do plan to cut back on social media for the month of February.

I’m doing this for a couple reasons:

1. It sucks up a ton of time energy that could be better spent.

I know most people are like, “A tweet is just 140 characters. How long could that take to write?” And those people are totally correct.

But when you are committed to crafting several tweets a day, plus Facebook posts for personal & podcast pages, plus posts for Instagram, Pinterest, Ello, Google+, LinkedIn, and more… it can get to be a bit much, especially when you add monitoring all of those channels to the mix.

(Seriously, infinite scrolling can cause me to lose hours at a time.)

In Episode 017 of Write Now, I made the distinction between spending time and expending energy. So something that takes a ton of time (e.g., reading a book for pleasure for several hours) might not take a ton of energy because you enjoy doing it, and it’s recharging and relaxing for you.

But something that takes relatively little time (e.g., a 20-minute networking event) might drain you of most of your energy for the day, if you’re an introvert like me.

So social media may not take a lot of time (when it comes to crafting the posts themselves), but it drains me of a ton of energy because it is always on my mind.

And I’d MUCH rather expend that energy creating awesome new episodes for you — or even working on my own creative writing.

2. Social media is the rage machine.

I care about social issues. A lot. Probably too much. So when I see a tweet in my Twitter feed that calls out a social injustice (say, the mindless perpetuation of rape culture or the under-representation of persons of color in mainstream films), I get angry.

And not only do I get angry — but I spend an inordinate amount of time and energy fuming about a problem that is often very far away from my little town in South Dakota, or else far-removed from my ability to help or resolve the issue in any way.

It’s one thing to stay informed, of course — it’s my responsibility as a global citizen to know what’s going on and look for opportunities to make the world a better place. I just don’t need to boil over with rage every time I refresh my Twitter feed.

Rage is exhausting. And I’d rather use my energy to create good things instead of fuming in impotent rage.

3. Facebook

Facebook is the place where the grass is always greener, the marriages are always happier, and the careers are always more successful than yours. Or at least they appear to be that way.

Facebook is the world’s highlight reel, and comparing the daily drudgeries of your life to the entirety of your followers’ best moments isn’t fair to you or me or anyone else.

I’ve found that this constant unequal comparison can make you feel really, really awful — not to mention dissatisfied with a life that is in reality no worse than anyone else’s.

I’m tired of feeling inadequate and dissatisfied with what is actually a really lovely life.

Hiatus time? (tl;dr version)

So with all this in mind, I’m going to try taking a social media hiatus. What this means for you is:

• You’ll still see pre-scheduled posts updating you whenever a new podcast episode is out.
• You might still see quotes and other inspirational, pro-writing stuff… I haven’t decided yet.
• I’ll only be scheduling social media posts to appear outside of work hours (work hours being 8:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m., Central Time).
• It might take me a bit longer than normal to respond to any tweets, Facebook posts, etc. that you send my way. (Though please don’t let that stop you from reaching out!)
• I’ll be trying to focus more on creating good things like podcast episodes and novel chapters.

Plus, I am planning to record an episode for Write Now about doing a digital detox, and I thought it might help to have actually done it. 🙂

So that’s it. Maybe you’ll notice the change — and maybe you won’t. Either way is OK. I just wanted to thank you for your encouragement and understanding along the way.

What about you?

Have you ever done a digital detox, or taken a social media hiatus? What did you experience as a result, if anything?