We spent a great weekend away in the lakes. In that time I caught myself flicking through my iPhone's screens a couple of times looking for my fix of information. Without the Facebook or Twitter icon I resorted to checking my email a couple of times. Surprise, surprise, there was nothing in there I was bothered about. It seems therefore, that I have a need to be constantly updated with some kind of information. There's a danger that that might happen with Google+ so I'm going to keep an eye on that and make sure that I contribute something meaningful and often and not just consume information.
I did realise in the lakes that I was getting all the status updates I needed from my kids all day long.
"I'm tired."
"I'm hungry."
"I love you."
Monday 30 April 2012
Thursday 26 April 2012
Day 5 without Facebook
I haven't posted everyday since quitting Facebook as that would be really boring. But I wanted to catch up and say where I am on Day 5 (I did have to check it was day 5, I'm not mentally counting away the days since I last used the site).
On day 3, I did get a moment at work when I saw others checking out their Facebook pages and there was a slight feeling of being disconnected, so I did some work and the moment passed.
But yesterday, my sister told me it felt odd that there were traces of me on Facebook but I wasn't there. I'm guessing it's because they haven't deleted my account yet so stuff like comments are going to remain. I've no idea if they'll permanently go when my account is deleted or not. So, I felt a bit bad about not being around and resolved to make sure that I still share important family stuff through Google+. Yes, it's not going to be as seamless an experience for them whilst they're not using the site, but maybe an email to them might feel more special than a new entry on my Facebook wall.
On the commute yesterday, I was reminded by how prevalent Facebook is. The different radio stations I was flicking between were all 'come and check out our Facebook page', or 'send us a tweet' blah blah. The national stations must be swamped with tweets and posts on Facebook. I know they want to feel like they're connecting with their audience but it's got to be a full time job sifting their way through all the chaff looking for the gem they want to read out. And doesn't it make like a bit too easy for the listeners? How much crafting is going into their messages to the radio stations? It used to be all about phone ins, and the occasional letter; then came email, and although that encouraged people to be a bit sloppier, at least the semblance to a letter made people take some effort. But now it's all about writing the pithiest comment in 140 chars, or 'Liking' someone else's comment. Bit of a shame that's all I'm saying.
On day 3, I did get a moment at work when I saw others checking out their Facebook pages and there was a slight feeling of being disconnected, so I did some work and the moment passed.
But yesterday, my sister told me it felt odd that there were traces of me on Facebook but I wasn't there. I'm guessing it's because they haven't deleted my account yet so stuff like comments are going to remain. I've no idea if they'll permanently go when my account is deleted or not. So, I felt a bit bad about not being around and resolved to make sure that I still share important family stuff through Google+. Yes, it's not going to be as seamless an experience for them whilst they're not using the site, but maybe an email to them might feel more special than a new entry on my Facebook wall.
On the commute yesterday, I was reminded by how prevalent Facebook is. The different radio stations I was flicking between were all 'come and check out our Facebook page', or 'send us a tweet' blah blah. The national stations must be swamped with tweets and posts on Facebook. I know they want to feel like they're connecting with their audience but it's got to be a full time job sifting their way through all the chaff looking for the gem they want to read out. And doesn't it make like a bit too easy for the listeners? How much crafting is going into their messages to the radio stations? It used to be all about phone ins, and the occasional letter; then came email, and although that encouraged people to be a bit sloppier, at least the semblance to a letter made people take some effort. But now it's all about writing the pithiest comment in 140 chars, or 'Liking' someone else's comment. Bit of a shame that's all I'm saying.
Monday 23 April 2012
Day 2 without Facebook
I might have got a bit carried away. Just deleted my Twitter account as well.
Sunday 22 April 2012
Day 1 without Facebook
For a while I've been considering dropping Facebook. About a year ago I realised I was spending a lot of time checking messages on Twitter and checking status updates on Facebook. It became a bit of a consuming habit and one that I recognised was not very productive. So, I went through a culling phase and stopped following a lot of people on Twitter, and removed everyone from my Facebook friends list apart from a handful of real friends and family members.
It was a great feeling. For the first time in ages, I felt free to write on Facebook about my family without worrying about how public I was making my life. On Twitter, I simply stopped posting and grew out of the habit of using the site.
For a time, all was well. I'd managed to reconnect with family members I hadn't seen for years, and was posting updates on my family. It was nice.
But then Google+ came along and I realised this was a social network that seemed to be doing things the right way. It made Facebook up its game and they started pushing out some of the features that might have made me think twice about my friend cull (the lists feature made it possible to limit posts to lists of people - think Google+ circles).
And for a time, all was still well. I was using twitter very rarely to get titbits from people associated with Doctor Who; I was using Facebook to speak to my family, and I was using my Google+ to speak to everyone else.
But recently I've grown disenchanted with this arrangement. It seems I've been hanging on to a Facebook account for no real reason other than to make it easier for my family to keep up to date with me. This is all in Google+ however, and the line between my thinking on both services was starting to grate.
So, I disabled by Facebook account yesterday. If you haven't done this already, you should try it. It's so funny. Deactivating your account does very little. When you click the link to deactivate, Facebook throws a few images of your friends on the screen telling you that 'John Smith will miss you', etc. Ha. How desperate are they?
Disabling your account does very little by the way. None of your data is removed and the next time you log back in, everything is as it was before. I knew this, but I figured it was a good mental exercise to see if I was truly bothered by not logging into Facebook.
I survived the day though, and by the end of it decided that I was going to go ahead and delete my Facebook account. Even this process isn't straight forward. Go ahead and try to find the link on Facebook...go and take a look...did you find it? I did a search on Google+ and some helpful souls posted the link you need. Steve Krause wrote this article about the process How to permanently delete your Facebook account (It's this if you're interested http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account.)
I clicked the link about an hour ago.
I then shared a Google+ post with my family so they'd know that I wasn't on Facebook anymore.
Deleting my Facebook account was something I should have done a long time ago.
It was a great feeling. For the first time in ages, I felt free to write on Facebook about my family without worrying about how public I was making my life. On Twitter, I simply stopped posting and grew out of the habit of using the site.
For a time, all was well. I'd managed to reconnect with family members I hadn't seen for years, and was posting updates on my family. It was nice.
But then Google+ came along and I realised this was a social network that seemed to be doing things the right way. It made Facebook up its game and they started pushing out some of the features that might have made me think twice about my friend cull (the lists feature made it possible to limit posts to lists of people - think Google+ circles).
And for a time, all was still well. I was using twitter very rarely to get titbits from people associated with Doctor Who; I was using Facebook to speak to my family, and I was using my Google+ to speak to everyone else.
But recently I've grown disenchanted with this arrangement. It seems I've been hanging on to a Facebook account for no real reason other than to make it easier for my family to keep up to date with me. This is all in Google+ however, and the line between my thinking on both services was starting to grate.
So, I disabled by Facebook account yesterday. If you haven't done this already, you should try it. It's so funny. Deactivating your account does very little. When you click the link to deactivate, Facebook throws a few images of your friends on the screen telling you that 'John Smith will miss you', etc. Ha. How desperate are they?
Disabling your account does very little by the way. None of your data is removed and the next time you log back in, everything is as it was before. I knew this, but I figured it was a good mental exercise to see if I was truly bothered by not logging into Facebook.
I survived the day though, and by the end of it decided that I was going to go ahead and delete my Facebook account. Even this process isn't straight forward. Go ahead and try to find the link on Facebook...go and take a look...did you find it? I did a search on Google+ and some helpful souls posted the link you need. Steve Krause wrote this article about the process How to permanently delete your Facebook account (It's this if you're interested http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account.)
I clicked the link about an hour ago.
I then shared a Google+ post with my family so they'd know that I wasn't on Facebook anymore.
Deleting my Facebook account was something I should have done a long time ago.
Saturday 7 April 2012
Wednesday 4 April 2012
Only 4 scenes to go
I've been busy with things recently and the novel has taken a back seat; still today I managed to get to grips with what work I have remaining on it before I can comfortably call it a completed first draft.
4 scenes.
What the hell am I playing at? Why aren't I just writing them and getting the bloody thing finished. I already have ideas floating around for my next one and I so so so desperately want to start something new.
OK. I'm going to get another scene started now.
Right
this
second.
4 scenes.
What the hell am I playing at? Why aren't I just writing them and getting the bloody thing finished. I already have ideas floating around for my next one and I so so so desperately want to start something new.
OK. I'm going to get another scene started now.
Right
this
second.
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