Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg University of Science and Technology will soon enforce – as much as they can – a ban of social networks for a whole week. Students will be forbidden from using the usual suspects, Twitter and Facebook, as well as any form of instant messaging or online communication – except for email.
Apparently the decision isn’t because the professors are anti-social media, they just want their students to better understand the role technology plays in their lives.
The ban is only going to be imposed on those that use the campus computer network, so anyone with a smartphone won’t really be affected. But maybe they’ll feel a sense of guilt and dependence when everyone else is abstaining?
Overall I think it’ll be an interesting experiment - I’m glad that no one is choosing to do this because of the “perils of online networking” or any other sensationalist claim. But do we really need to stop using this kind of technology to understand that it’s important?
During the day I’m banned from social networks in the office I currently work in, and sometimes, on an evening I do feel a little disconnected - and I’m not ashamed to say that! But I don’t think anyone can argue that the feeling of being on holiday and switching off all electronic devices is pretty liberating.
I’d suggest that most of us don’t need – and couldn’t function personally or professionally – with a complete ban from social networks. But maybe we could all do with a bit of a detox:
- Sort your Twitter contacts into lists, this way you won’t waste hours scrolling and scrolling through what everyone has to say – you can just log on, or open the app, look at those that interest you and get off again. Going through past tweets can REALLY suck your time away.
- Turn off Push notifications and alerts when you’re trying to relax, otherwise it’ll niggle at you until you check it. Then you’ll beat yourself up about not replying to it. Then you’ll eventually reply to it.
- Learn to turn Skype or IM off. End of.
- Don’t get drawn into ‘stalking’ people on Facebook. We’ve all been there, look at that person’s photos, oh she’s in it, let’s see what she’s doing, she works with him, that’s weird, how old is he… I have lost a terrifying amount of my life to this kind of inane stalking.
- At work and amongst friends, group emails can not only be annoying but very time consuming. If there’s a large enough group involved you can happily sit and watch for the next email to ping into your Inbox. Close your emails. You can read through all of them at the end and no one will like you any less.
Image via Ed Yourdon's Flickr