Do you ever feel as if you have too much junk in your closet? I’m referring to the closet of your mind and the information you process every day when you log into your social stream and open your email.

Maybe it’s time to schedule a spring cleaning and reduce the pressure of your social media fire hose!

The answer might be “yes” if you:

• Get Facebook messages from groups you didn’t join or from people you don’t really know.
• Receive daily notifications from LinkedIn groups that you automatically delete, or if you get invites to connect from people simply because you share a group and have nothing else in common.
• Look at your Twitter and Facebook streams and wonder, “who is this person?”

If so…

Where do you begin?

Here’s my story of how I began this difficult spring cleaning chore…

I mentioned to my husband that I really wanted to do some spring cleaning and clear out stuff I don’t use but didn’t know where to start. He asked and suggested,

“What gives you the most stress? Start there.”

Stress begins the moment I set down to the computer and “log on!” The answer resulted in my quest to cut down the influx of information processed on a daily basis as a result of being involved in social media.

I began my quest on a rainy day spring Saturday by leaving Facebook and LinkedIn groups, changing email notification settings on others, and unfriending and unfollowing people I don’t really know.

Why?

My biggest stress is the overload of information I don’t find useful or don’t act upon, cluttering up my brain and taking attention away from what I do want to read, including zapping free time.

The decision to leave groups and unfriend people has been stressful in itself. But the following words from a long-time close friend resonate:

“Why are you spending so much of your energy with hundreds of people you don’t really know?

You’re the one who often talks about opportunity costs, and you’ve been complaining about not having time to ride your bike and do other stuff. Something always has to give.”

The advice of this good friend served as a mirror. What was I willing to give up?

After months of feeling like I don’t have time for things I really want to do, to master the things I want to become proficient in, I realized the opportunity costs were getting the better of me and I had to change – NOW! Many of you know I’ve been dealing with some health issues. I sleep more as a result. If I want to enjoy biking, hiking, writing, gardening, time with family, studying, reading and working full-time (plus) while running an SEO consultancy, then it’s time to guard the few spare hours left in a day.

This spring cleaning served as the difficult first steps to turn down the pressure of my social media fire hose to free up headspace and make time for what’s important. (And writing blog posts is one of those.) The spring cleaning exercise reminded me it’s time to get back my writing voice and share why I’ve made such changes.

Your Backyard

You’re in control of what comes into your yard, your personal space. You either control it, or you’ll be overwhelmed  by it.

Let’s take physical space and compare it to an etheral, online sense:

You are in your backyard. You have a table and chairs and your little space. You invite a few people over to chat. Others start showing up, talking about whatever. You welcome the first few and enjoy varied conversations.

But you didn’t shut the gate to the yard. More and more people come in. Later, hundreds of conversations are circling you at once. Your back yard is no longer a place to hang out with close friends, family and neighbors. Every time you walk outside, you are bombarded with megaphones of chatter. You stop going into your own yard as often as a result.

That’s the way I’ve felt with the growing size of my social networks. Oh, I LOVE the socialization and the sharing, but one can only hold so many conversations at one time and retain quality.

Inspiration

The following people have also served as “mirrors” and inspiration in their writings and attempts to shut down the influx of noise from social media:

Joanna Lord wrote, Finding My Voice: A Lesson Learned, in which she decided to stop allowing so much noise to surround her after asking herself:

“Am I doing what I should be doing?”
“Am I spending my time on the right things?”
“Am I being true to myself and the dreams I once dreamt?”

Amanda Orson shared about her Reverse To-Do List in which she writes down progress she’s made each day in a notebook. Her focused approach lead her to tweet and participate in forumns less:

“The relentless pursuit of becoming more efficient and getting things done readjusted my priorities. I spend a lot less time wasting time and a lot more time trying to add things to my tiny notebook of accountability.”

Matthew Leonard shared his journey, When to Take a Social Media Break:

“Twitter became my priority. It became my obsession.

I should’ve been shutting down and enjoying a moment in life, a moment I can never get back.

Instead, my mind was focused on how to condense the moment into 140 characters and share it.

My life had become a massive extended relationship. I was losing focus on the core people, and priorities, in my life. I was spreading myself too thin for fear of not ‘sharing’, or turning my back on social media.

If one’s not careful, life can become one massive extended relationship!

I recently had a conversation with Shane Igo, a guy very involved in consumer electronics, and discussed how fewer people are reading. I expressed my concern about a “dumbing down” of our culture due to people spending so much time in social media. His response was insightful:

“There is a lot of good that comes from social media. However, people get overwhelmed if they don’t have good filters or ability to process.

People have a longing to have mastery over a craft or subject. That will not come from just keeping up on tweets. You need to dig deeper.”

Yes! You have to dig deeper! The social media firehose can become a distraction that interrupts one’s mastery over a craft (other than becoming a “social media guru”).

I love social media and appreciate the friendships that have developed from it. I want to keep those friends and not get so diluted that I don’t notice them as they “fly by” in my stream. Too much of a good thing doesn’t make it better.

For me, it’s time to control the fire hose.

What about you?

How do you control the influx of information you process? Do you have things you enjoy or passions you want to pursue that do not involve the computer?

If you could free up an extra hour or two a day, what would you do with your free time?

Photo Credit – Fire Hose: http://www.flickr.com/photos/namlhots/3096109459/ / CC BY 2.0

Thoughts about Optimizing Life: Dana Lookadoo

Spring Cleaning the Social Media Fire Hose

I learned a few valuable lessons by supporting (and later revoking my support of) the Communication Shutdown movement to raise awareness and money for Autism. (You can read how and why I shut down access to Twitter & FaceBook.)

Lesson 1 – Shutting down doesn’t open dialogue

I began to wonder, thanks to comments by Lyndon Antcliff and Savannah Logsdon-Breakstone, how shutting down communication and not speaking was going to “speak” for those affected by autism who can’t always speak as freely as they want?

My opinion about the Autism charity drive and their methodology changed after learning more about perceived stereotypes and Autistic Speaking Day, which was also on November 1, in protest of the #shutdown movement. This sentence sealed it:

“…on November 1st, Autistic people should speak up and be heard.   That in the absence of NT voices, Autistics should reclaim the Autism community by communicating in our own ways on our life experiences.”

So, CommunicationShutdown.org essentially took away the voice of those with Autism for a day. In addition, they failed at some best practices for social media:

• #shutdown didn’t analyze its audience to ensure efforts represented the community.
• #shutdown didn’t offer a blog on their site upon which the conversation could be held – no voice.
• #shutdown didn’t engage through a Twitter profile for conversation before and after November 1.
• #shutdown auto tweeted via supporters’ Twitter accounts and auto posted via our FaceBook accounts AFTER the event, charading as us!!

I DID NOT tweet or post the following on Nov 2:

#shutdown auto tweet to Twitter

#shutdown auto post to FaceBook

Terms of Support & Disclaimer

The small print did say they would post on our behalf the day of the #shutdown to let our friends and followers know why we were not on Twitter & FaceBook and to raise awareness of Autism. Fair enough. And, for example, the tweet on the day of the event said (auto tweet from…).

Small print DID NOT SAY they would continue to tweet AFTER the event. The tweet and post shown above look as if I manually posted them and “spoke” for the #shutdown movement. Misrepresentation.

Lesson 2 – How to revoke access to Twitter & FaceBook

I learned one should beware and be careful about giving money, supporting causes, and about giving applications access to your Twitter and FaceBook account.

I learned how to revoke access to applications that were once granted access to one’s Twitter and FaceBook accounts. Cliff Notes version of the steps follow:

Revoke Access to Twitter

Here’s how to revoke access to Twitter:

1. Via Twitter Web, go to Settings > Connections.
2. Find the application > click on “Revoke Access.”
3. You’ll see a confirmation screen similar to that shown below:

Revoke access from Twitter

You can “undo” the revocation if you made a mistake. If you do nothing at this point, the application will be removed from your Twitter Connections list.

(Thank you Joshua Titsworth and Andrew Woods for showing me how to revoke the #shutdown CHAPP app.)

Revoke Access to FaceBook

Here’s how to revoke access to FaceBook:

1. In FaceBook via the Web, go to Account > Privacy Settings.
2. Under Applications and Websites (lower left of screen), click on “Edit your settings” for using applications, games and websites.
3. Click on “Edit Settings” at the top, for Applications you use. You’ll see a list of applications granted access.
4. Click “Edit Settings” to the right of the application you want to revoke, and you’ll see a screen similar to the following:

Revoke access to FaceBook

Whallah! You are free and clear and have your social media voice back!

Lesson 3: Take care of your voice!

I also learned that social media is an essential voice to people with and without Autism.

Be careful what you say and whom you let speak for you!

FINE SEO PRINT:
Communication Shutdown’s website also overlooked some key fundamentals of SEO and user experience on their website, but such discussion is not for this blog post. (Sorry, Communication Shutdown. You won’t get a free SEO audit and analysis here.)

Thoughts about Optimizing Life: Dana Lookadoo

How to Revoke Communication #shutdown from Twitter & FaceBook

Communications Shutdown - Dana Lookadoo's Profile Pict

I’m in! Oh, well, actually, I’m out – of social media for a day.

I joined the movement, which I learned of at the last moment via Twitter, to shutdown from social media, especially Twitter and FaceBook, for a day to support Autism.

Communication Shutdown is on November 1, 2010. The movement is a global fundraiser for Autism. I read this on their site:

“Can you get by without FaceBook or Twitter, just for one day? Join the shutdown to raise funds and awareness for autism in your country.”

Can I do it? You bet! What a small sacrifice.

I know people who suffer with Autism. Most of us have no idea, little empathy, of what it means to not be able to get your words out, to not be able to process incoming information and stimulus, and not be able communicate in a “socially acceptable” manner. Granted, sitting behind a computer does help many with Autism to avoid the challenges and additional stimulus of interpersonal communication. Social media has been positive and has opened up the world for many sufferers.

By the time you’ve read this, it is surely after that date. As of this writing, it’s already 11/1 just a time zone away.

Will Communication Shutdown make a difference?

It will raise some money and awareness. If that is successful, then yes.

When I announced my intention on Twitter, my friend, Alan Bleiweiss decided to join Communications Shutdown. Another friend, Joe Hall, informed us of this article by a gal with Autism regarding a counter movement called Autistics’ Speaking Day. I commend her and the community for using 11/1 to share their stories. I also hope she and others will find that the shutdown movement has brought a lot of awareness, part of its original intention.

I wouldn’t be reading her article nor writing this one if it was not for the movement. That alone, is a small sample of their success.

So why shut down?

I don’t jump on campaigns or bandwagons easily. I’m shutting down partially as a catalyst of change partially for my own selfish reasons.

The Communications Shutdown comes at a time when I’ve been giving a lot of thought to how I spend my time, my productivity quotient of focused time to time socializing, texting, answering emails. In other words, I’ve been more and more aware of how I spend my time and how I waste it.

Don’t get me wrong. Social media and various methods of communication are essential to being a consultant and search marketer. But as a “user” without the marketing hat on, I too easily find this constant influx of information is just … downright distracting UNLESS one is in the information-seeking and socializing mode.

I recently suffered a concussion which I shared about in My Personal Humpty Dumpty Story. Shutting down extraneous input was absolutely necessary to my sanity and healing. For example,

My brain felt like it was overfiring when I would see notifications pop up in the lower right of my monitor or I would hear a “ding” when someone would @ me on Twitter.

Often, I wouldn’t be able to find the right word to express myself and became very frustrated.

I did wonder if this is how some people with Autism feel.

So, that’s why I’m shutting down – in support and empathy.

Think about it. What would it take for you to give up social media for a day?

• Read a book
• Take a walk with a friend or loved one
• Focus on a project – truly focus
• Do something away from the computer

And why wouldn’t you try? What could you do with your time?

Thoughts about Optimizing Life: Dana Lookadoo

I Shut Down Twitter & FaceBook for 1 Day