Five days without my smartphone or the internet and the
world did not end. Go figure. When I returned on the sixth day, I was so
overwhelmed by notifications, emails, and messages that I decided to stay away
for one more day. But now I’m back. Here’s what I learned:
#1) Whether you like it or not, your digital life will go on
without you. Even though I was detached from social media, social media was not
detached from me. Since I was away with friends—friends with smartphones of
their own—new photos of me found their way onto the internet. I was “tagged”
and they were “liked”, all without my consent, as if anyone in your vicinity
with a smartphone has become part of your own personal Paparazzi. But that’s
not all. Even those who were hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away,
continued to interact with my digital life even though they knew I wouldn’t
respond. Some tagged me in Facebook posts. Others commented on old posts. New posts
were pasted on my wall. I was sent text messages and emails. Interestingly, I
had no missed calls, as if people feel comfortable digitally contacting a “ghost”,
but not personally. (p.s. I apologize for not “liking” or replying to the
posts, comments, etc., that I was tagged in while on my digital vacation, but
with the current real-time pace of social media, I’m not sure what the proper protocol
is concerning days-old posts.)
#2) It’s perfectly okay to not take photos of everything you
do. I traveled to a small town in Washington that is modeled after a Bavarian
Village. Simply put, it is a photographer’s wet dream. Luckily, there were
thousands of other “photographers” there, all taking the same pictures I would
have taken (probably not as good as the ones I would have taken, but
nonetheless). Plus, if I really need a photo to remember the trip, my beautiful
girlfriend took about seven thousand of her own. And like the old saying says: “A
photo might be worth a thousand words, but your memories are worth a thousand
photos.” (I may have just made that up.)
#3) Few people actually make it past the first couple
sentences of anything posted on the internet. I know this to be true from the
comments I received last week when I wrote about how I was leaving for a
digital vacation. Several people thought I was leaving my digital life for good
even though I clearly stated that my exit was only temporary. Apparently,
people only care to read headlines these days, which explains so much about our
current political situation. It also means I can write whatever bat-shit crazy
thing I want right now and be confident that not many people will actually read
it. Which brings us to:
#4) My digital vacation was extremely refreshing, like taking
an ice-cold shower or running naked through a snowstorm. I highly recommend the
next time you travel away from your safe space for an extended period of time,
leave all your digital devices at home. I promise that the world won’t end, and
if you’re lucky, you’ll find greater appreciation in your actual life—you know,
the one away from the screen.
Bonus: If a photo is worth a thousand words, and this piece
is about 500, does that mean it’s worth half a photo?
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