逃离社交网络

    因此，今年夏天，我决定探寻这项技术对我日常生活的影响。为了减少获取社交信息，我为自己制定了如下规定：

    -- 常规工作日的上午9点到下午6点半之间查收工作邮件和私人邮件。

    -- 还可以通过工作电话和手机联系到我。在家里，我准备把电话安在厨房里，那里预留了一个放座机的地方。（2003年6月我扔掉了电话。）

    -- 任何时候都不登陆社交服务。

    -- 任何时候都不使用即时通信服务。

    -- 不发短信。

    逃离社交媒体的过程比我预想的要困难。比如说，社交服务不会像我的电子邮件那样提供假期自动回复；毕竟我们一旦有段时间不用它，就可能将它弃之不用。同样，我的社交信息订阅支持着我在网上的许多活动——从在网飞（Netflix）上看电影到使用Seamless订餐。试着把这些事情与网络分离是件可怕的事情。此外，社交不仅是社交，它对我的工作也至关重要。毫无疑问，在本月重要的商业会议之前，我会渴望使用LinkedIn，就像我去年夏天尝试在晨间咖啡时间里戒掉对咖啡因的渴望一样。那种感觉不会好受的。

    但我计划在这一过程中做下记录，借此更加了解自己——同样重要的是，了解这些我使用的社交技术。我将在本月底分享这些想法。我也期待听到你们对于类似体验的想法。如果对此事还有其他关注，可以通过“蜗牛”邮件寄给我……（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正 

    So this summer, I'm choosing instead to explore the impact of this technology on my routine. I have constructed a set of somewhat arbitrary rules to cut down on my social intake:

    -- I will be available over both work and personal email between 9am and 6:30pm, the hours in a basic work day.

    -- I will also be available on my work phone and my cell phone. At home, I plan to leave my phone in the kitchen, in the area once reserved for a landline. (I ditched mine in June 2003.)

    -- I will not be available at any time on any social service.

    -- I won't be available over any instant messaging service.

    -- I will not text.

    It's harder than I thought to figure out how to disengage. For one, social services have no incentive to offer vacation responders in the way that my email does; after all, once we leave for a brief period, we may not come back. Also, my social feeds provide the backbone for many of the tasks that I do online -- from watching movies on Netflix (NFLX) to ordering food through Seamless. Trying to decouple the tasks from the networks is daunting. And: Social is not just social. It's critical to my work life. I have no doubt I will long for LinkedIn (LNKD) before important business meetings this month in the same way that I craved caffeine when I tried to give up my morning coffee last summer. It won't be pretty.

    But, I plan to keep notes on the process, and I hope to learn a bit more about myself -- and as important, about these social technologies I cover -- in the process. I'll share these thoughts at month's end. And I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts on any similar journeys. Extra attention goes to the letters I receive by snail mail ...