Maybe it’s an offshoot of having spent almost two weeks completely off the grid, but one of the first things that I did when I came back from vacation was disconnect.
I deleted my profiles on half a dozen social networking sites. Opted out of eNewsletters from Banana Republic, Men’s Health (who should be ashamed of how hard it is to cancel a subscription with them), Weight Watchers, and NPR (which is NOT indicative of any slide on my part into compassionate conservatism). Set my email to ping twice a day instead of every five minutes. And I rediscovered the art of picking up the receiver and dialing the telephone.
Signs of electronic burnout? I don’t think so. More of an alignment, I believe, with a longstanding personal and team philosophy that, however and whenever we choose to communicate, we should get or bring value. As an early adopter, I tend to get hyper-excited about every new technology and web-powered anything, evidenced by a Second Life avatar whose name I can’t remember, a twitter account I never use, and an iPod museum in my home office closet. But in the end, I keep, use, and remain devoted to the things that:
1. Make my life simpler
2. Allow me to keep in touch with the people most important to me
3. Allow me to make decisions and get things done
As we all think about how to harness technology to market and persuade, the principle of bringing real value should guide us. Everything else is clutter.
Voltaire Santos Miran EVP, Web Strategy I've developed and implemented communication strategies in education for more than 20 years now. I think my team at mStoner is the smartest, funniest, and coolest group of colleagues ever, and I can't imagine being anywhere else. Except Barcelona. Or Paris. Or Istanbul. To quote Isak Dinesen, "the cure for everything is salt ... tears, sweat, and the sea."