Real Talk

I’ve been thinking about this for a while.

Technology is a wonderful thing, and the Internet has allowed us to meet, connect, and reconnect with friends and family all over the world. However, I’ve become slightly disenfranchised with the whole concept of always being accessible and taking away some of the personal aspects of day to day conversations with people. The Internet and other forms of technology have been as much of an interruption of my daily life as it is a convenience. So I’m turning it off for a while.

I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I’m using the Internet to tell the world that I’m sick of it. But like I said, it IS convenient. And I can reach more people faster using this channel than any other. So yes, I’m using this as my way of communicating to all of you.

Ladies, gentlemen, and undecided, I present to you…an experiment that I’d like to call, “Real” Talk.

For 30 days, the entire month of September to be exact, I will not be logging onto any social networking sites. No Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or any other site. I won’t be logging onto any Instant Messaging programs. No Yahoo Messenger, AIM, MSN. I will only respond to work or business related emails. No Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, or Yahoo. And probably the most difficult thing that I will do without for 30 days is texting. I will still be accessible to those who call my cell phone and I’ll still write letters via Snail Mail.

So to sum it all up, no Tweets, Wall posts, or bulletins. No personal emails. No SMS, MMS, BBMs, IMs, or any other short term lingo that doesn’t include phone calls or letters. If my friends or family need to reach me, they need to do it the old fashioned way. “Real” Talk. I’ll still use the internet to keep track of news events and I’ll continue to update Red Steam, since I like finding weird shit to write about.

Hopefully, at the end of this experiment, I will accomplish a few things. One, the fact that I can make it 30 days without all these things. Two, that I will have a new appreciation for these things and not take them for granted. Three, that my friends and family have the ability to adapt to the “old school” methods of communication.

If you have my number or address, use it. If not, get it from someone who does. :0)