Do you ever feel like you want to take a break from the internet? Ever feel the need to hole yourself away in some kind of peaceful commune, living 1980s style in a land without Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest and Google+, Instagram and blogs?

Because I do.

I’ve been feeling it a lot more recently. Maybe it’s because it seems the entire world is online these days, or maybe it’s because my own particular community of bloggers feels really busy right now. Or maybe it’s because – and this isn’t entirely my fault – I’m simply spending too much time on the internet.

I am self-employed. I earn my crust as a broadcaster for a commercial radio brand, a writer for various publications and a blogger. Every single one of these sources of income involves being online. For radio, I run the morning Twitter and Facebook feeds. For blogging – well that’s kind of obvious. And for writing, much of the places that publish my work are online magazines. And, amongst all of this, many of my clients (for blogging, presentations and workshops, copywriting etc etc etc) find me online. If the internet didn’t exist, neither would much of my work.

That said, I know I’m not alone in this. Many of us rely on some kind of online presence these days to earn an income. This is normal in our digital, multiple social media platformed world. It’s a world I’ve been heavily active in for more than two years now, since I first started blogging. So why am I suddenly so tired of it?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not about to delete my blog or take a year long Twitter sabbatical. I’m just wondering if there isn’t some way I could re-ignite the passion, so to speak. I love writing this blog, it’s my own personal corner of the internet. All mine. I love every single element of my work – the radio, the writing, the interaction with other people – it’s just that sometimes it all feels a bit, well, loud.

Whenever I try to explain blogging and Facebook and Twitter to my mum, I say it’s like being in a room full of people. You have to interact and chat with the other people in that room to get anything out of the experience. But, just as in real life, you get other people with loud voices and their own conversational interests. That means that, sometimes, being online can feel a bit shouty.

On shouty days, rather than sharing the amazing things going on in other people’s lives and feeling inspired by the incredibly creative types out there, I feel intimidated and exhausted. On those days I feel like I can’t be bothered to interact, because everyone is shouting louder than me and I won’t get heard anyway. That kind of negativity isn’t healthy for anyone – and it’s certainly not “me”. I like to think I’m a naturally positive, happy person. I don’t like feeling tired and apathetic.

So I’ve come up with a few rules to try and combat the social media fatigue. Going offline for a while isn’t an option for me, because of my work, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a solution to make me feel enthused again.

• Limit my time online – It’s one thing taking the odd Instagram shot and another spending a full 30 minutes on Twitter while your child attempts to play with you. I don’t want to be *that* mum. So from now on, rather than worry someone might think I’m rude if I don’t reply to a tweet and engage in a conversation, I’m just going to put my phone away and not look at it. After all, Twitter won’t die if I ignore it for a while.

• Do one thing at a time – If I’m writing, then I’m writing. I won’t have Tweetdeck open at the same time and I won’t just pop over to Facebook to check I’m not missing anything. Whether it’s a piece of commercial copy, a feature or a blog post, I want to have a clear mind while I’m typing. And that’s why, from now on, I’m going to focus on one thing at a time.

• Have dedicated social media black-out periods – Friday and Saturday nights tend to be the two evenings when I spend proper quality time with the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine. If I’m with him, or with my friends, then I’m going to make a concerted effort not to have my phone within tapping distance.

• Learn that I’m not missing out – I have been known to get twitchy if I haven’t checked my emails, my Twitter feed, my Facebook notifications for a full day. I worry that the world may have stopped turning for 24 hours and I’ll be the last to know. This is stupid. If people need me that badly they can ring or text. And if I miss some kind of online spat or juicy celeb gossip then who cares? I mean, seriously – it just doesn’t matter. At all.

How do you combat social media fatigue? Any more ideas for me?

The post Combating social media fatigue appeared first on Mother's Always Right.

What a photo looks like when it's not prettied up by Instagram

This was the sign that mocked me for 24 hours last weekend.

The photo is desperately ugly, showing my clunky keyboard in all its 1990s glory. That’s what happens when you take a picture on your phone, without using Instagram. This is just one of the things I realised during my 24 hour ban.

The blackout was necessary as part of my show on Heart. (So hellish was it, that I blogged about it there too. Clearly, I felt deprived of blogging to write about the same subject twice in as many days.)

The challenge came after I expressed a total lack of surprise at a story in the news last week. Apparently lots of people would rather do without heating and running water than the internet. Seems obvious really. I mean, I use the internet for pretty much everything, but I can always put on a jumper if the heating goes down or run outside to the nearest massive puddle if the water stops.

My colleagues were aghast though. “You use the internet all the time?” They asked. “Couldn’t you go without it for even a day?” They asked. “Are you addicted?” They asked.

*ahem*

So to prove that I wasn’t addicted, I joined up with Aly who blogs at Plus 2.4 and began an internet blackout that lasted from 8pm Friday to 8pm Saturday. In the name of science, the ban extended to the entire family. No gaming for the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine. No Spotify for either of us. No YouTube Wheels on the Bus action for Frog.

I thought it would be easy.

And at times it was. Like on Friday evening when my husband and I settled down to watch a film. It was relaxing to be able to watch the film without feeling the urge to tweet about it. But it was less relaxing to have to choose a rubbish title because we couldn’t use the Love Film streaming service.

And everything took so long.

Need the number for the local Chinese takeaway? Of course you can’t look it up online. That’s cheating. You have to use Yellow Pages like you live in 1992. Except the Yellow Pages has disappeared so you have to actually ring a directory enquiry service. Expensive and time-consuming.

And then on Saturday morning, there’s no perusing of recipe blogs and websites to plan the meals and the supermarket shop for the following week. We were reduced to the one recipe book we own, The Student Survival Handbook from 2003. It’s no wonder we’ve had baked beans every night since Saturday.

In the supermarket there was panic. (Clearly a trip to the supermarket was required, as online shopping was out of the question.) Realising that he didn’t know if he’d yet been paid, the NLM went to check his account through the App on his phone. But of course, that wasn’t allowed either. So he had to dash out of the supermarket, leaving his trolley behind, and queue in the pouring rain for 15 minutes to check his balance at the cashpoint.

I missed about a gazillion cute moments. Every picture I took on Saturday ended up being deleted. Stuff just doesn’t look cool when you’re used to the Instagram filter.

And don’t even get me started about the lack of email ability. By 7pm I was desperate to peruse my inbox and check to see if any vital emails from clients had gone unanswered.

In the end I spent a great portion of Saturday asleep. While Frog napped, so did I.

I also cleaned the bathroom, weeded the garden, watched Free Willy 3: The Rescue (surprisingly good) and painted my toenails.

And when I rejoined Twitter and Facebook at exactly 8pm on Saturday evening? Turns out I hadn’t missed much.

But I won’t be doing it again out of choice for a very long time.

Could you?

The post Surviving without the internet (I think I’m addicted) appeared first on Mother's Always Right.

2. Invite family over for the weekend and spend vast amounts of time worrying about not writing a blog post in two days.

3. Furtively check your emails and get irrationally moody at the sight of posts written by other bloggers you subscribe to. Spend more time worrying about not writing a post in two days.

4. Blame your bad mood on the man in your life and start a row about him not helping out enough. Secretly worry about not writing a blog post in two days.

5. Make an excuse to go to the toilet and have a quick glance at Twitter to check you’re not missing anything. Use the time you spend having a wee to secretly worry about not writing a blog post in two days.

6. Once all family have gone spend half an hour in a sulk that you can’t use the computer to write a blog post, as the man in your life has actual real work to do. Start another row about the fact he doesn’t take you seriously enough.

7. Finally write that blasted blog post you’ve been fretting over for two days and congratulate yourself on your reserve at staying away from said blog for such a long period of time. Take huge insult at any suggestion otherwise.

A socially inept mardy blogger (with a mild case of trapped wind)

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