Social media vacations don’t work

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Even in the early days of Facebook, when I was working there, I felt the occasional, illicit desire to take a break from my online life, feeling a slight unease with the fact that a virtual version of my self floated online at all hours, almost as if it had a life of its own, separate from my own activities, moods and experiences. Desiring some virtual “solitude,” I would think, “I’ll just deactivate my account for a day; no one will notice,” and click the deactivate button. Like a psychiatrist self-analyzing, I paid close attention to how I felt during my deactivated period: freer, calmer, less concerned with my virtual persona and whether it portrayed me in a blithe, cool way online.

Salon.com > Katherine Losse

Social media vacations don’t work