Thinking about going off the grid...

Lately I've been thinking a lot about trying to go off the grid. I don't really mean installing solar panels and fermenting my own waste to produce energy (though I'd like to do the solar panel bit some day), but rather, going off the social technology grid. I'm thinking about shutting down my facebook account, getting rid of this blog (like anyone reads my semi-annual posts anyway), and in general keeping as low of a public profile as possible. I know there's been a lot in the news about identity theft and whatnot, but my real reason for wanting to become a social-media-born-again is that I feel like people use social media to broadcast their lives too much. At first I found it interesting to know what people were up to, but then it got to be too much. Honestly, I don't care that some person I haven't talked to since high school is having a bad day because some friend of theirs who I don't even know was in a bike accident.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't care about you, it's just that I don't want to hear every sad little detail of your life, especially if I barely know you. I feel like social media has brought us to this strange place where everyone feels the need to broadcast all the deepest darkest feelings they might be experiencing, and honestly, I feel like it sort of cheapens real relationships. Part of the fun of being a human being is trying to figure out what makes people tick - but you don't have to do that anymore, because everyone is publicly broadcasting every little secret about themselves.

So I think it's decided...if anyone actually reads this and is interested in staying in contact with me, send me your email address or phone number, because this will most likely be my final blog. Oh, and Merry Christmakwanzukkah.