The bliss of disconnection

Gaucho with a smart phone

I've felt a lot more relaxed since I quit Facebook,* shut down several twitter accounts, and deleted all the "traffic loggers" that I had running on various sites. I have fewer updates to track, no "missed messages" to regret, and more time to think without pings, alerts and other cues pushing me to be a good social animal.

I suggest that you look into the same type of action, if you're feeling stressed and behind all the time.

As positive side effects, you will have better conversations with friends and family (assuming they can also "put down that app"), more time for actions you pull to yourself (rather than having actions pushed to you in the "feed"), and perhaps even more time to comment here!

When we were lost in Uruguay a few summers ago, we stopped to ask a gaucho for directions. He said "no hay GPS-ay?" and I said no. We had an amusing conversation in my bad Spanish, and he even introduced me to his son, by phone, who was studying in London. It was a nice side effect of lacking GPS.

Bottom line: Take the time to talk with people (or write a decent email). It will let you focus and build clearer communications with other people.

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* A consultant told me this morning how "login with Facebook for free wifi" hotspots grab your IMEI code (off your phone) and then track you in the store and all other spots where you might walk (without using wifi), so those stores can target ads at you based on the your Facebook profile (did you read all the details of "I agree"?)