Twitter Fast 2010

Today I’m starting my second November Twitter fast, about a week late. Last year I took the entire month of November off from Twitter except for automated processes (blog entries, Flickr photo posts, etc.) and I really enjoyed unplugging from the hive mind, so I’m going to do it again. I might even try to make up the lost week in the first week of December. I’m going to cut down on Facebook too, although that’s a little more difficult. So many people use it as an alternate email system that I’ll need to log in about once a day to not miss important messages. But that whole “reading everyone’s status” thing – I’m going to try to avoid that. How many minutes (hours?) a day do I lose in the process of checking out everyone else’s lives? I don’t know and I’m a little scared to find out.

A few of the things I plan to do instead of absorbing the internet’s collective consciousness:

Write. As my dad said to me recently (on Facebook), could the Constitution or the Theory of Relativity have been conceived in 140 characters? In the wake of my daughter Margaret’s birth I have all but stopped writing for this blog and for Film Festival Secrets. (There’s also a monthly column on movies for parents in Austin that I’ve promised to write for Slackerwood – stay tuned.) It’s time to shake the dust off the keyboard and lay down some words. I’ll be using the intriguing 750 Words site to track my progress.

Watch. I have screeners for SXSW to plow through. Those indie gems ain’t gonna find themselves. I may even take my own advice from the movies for parents and take Elizabeth to see something in the theater.

Parent. (It’s a verb, look it up.) Margaret is four months old, Elizabeth is four years. There’s always some new project in the works to mold them into socially acceptable humans.

Cook. Thanksgiving is coming up, y’all.

Exercise. See the above re: Thanksgiving.

Breathe.

So as of now I’m removing the Facebook and Twitter apps from my iPhone. If I could take a break from email I might really get something done. See you on the other side.

6 things about the internet that make me want to stop using it.

1. Link-bait articles with SEO-optimized titles like “6 things about the internet that make me want to stop using it.”

 

2. That goddam Facebook “like” button popping up everywhere. Please stick it up your ass.

    

    

3. Anything that mentions Apple or the iPhone. Buy one or don’t buy one, and then shut the hell up. I’m even tired of hearing myself talk about it. I promise to stop.

    

4. Your passion about what is either the greatest movie you’ve seen in the last five minutes or is an overrated piece of garbage. (Cough cough Dogtooth ahherrrm Trash Humpers garble Inception cough!)

    

5. Kickstarter campaigns.

    

    

6. Social media “tips.” No one knows a damn thing about how this all works, so stop pretending.

Please now feel free to argue about what things I left off the list, or whether number three should have been number one. I dare you.