Not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far from here…
Episode VII – Facebook Awakens
It is a time of great unrest amongst the world’s sci-fi fans. The first new Star Wars movie in a decade is about to be released and the Internet is rife with rumour and potential spoilers.
Our intrepid Educational Technologist is celebrating a family member’s milestone birthday in the middle of the countryside on the day of release and won’t get to see the movie for about two weeks.
To avoid any chance of spoiling the movie of the year, he takes drastic action and begins a social media blackout… 
So I spent two full weeks without Facebook, Twitter et al and without blogging (“Yeah, THAT’S the reason you haven’t posted in ages…!”) and it was oddly refreshing. The first time I turned my phone on after starting the self-imposed ban I looked down at it blankly and thought “What am I turning this on for?”. My face was definitely raised more from my phone during those two weeks than at any other time, which is probably a good thing (except for those who have to look at me!).
I’ll make one caveat – I did POST to Facebook a few times in that period, mainly to post pictures of the holiday and birthday for friends of the family to see, but I didn’t READ anything. Not posts, not articles, not even comments. Notifications were turned off and I never felt the urge to go and have a peek. (“The force is strong with this one…”)
Oddly, I didn’t miss it much. Mostly I missed chatting with friends, and hearing what was happening to them. I certainly didn’t miss all the repeat articles about the timeline of movie releases from Marvel and DC over the next 500 years.
I’ve come back to it all now, and feel pleased I did it but content to be back. I’m not using it as much as before, but I’m still on regularly. I’ve learned I don’t need it as much and that it really is a tool, not a lifestyle choice. The time away clarified my use of social media too. For me, Facebook is social, for connecting with my friends and family, and not really for work or education. Twitter is media, it’s my learning and professional platform. If I want to know about a Moodle plugin, what card to craft in Hearthstone, or who won the Marvel TV Dubsmash War, I’ll look here as often as Google. (I’m not saying either service is only good for this, just my personal usage).
Like anything it’s good to take a break from social media, but I wouldn’t want to live in the 21st century without it.