The Health Craze of 2010 – The Digital Cleanse

12/28/2009 - 5:00 pm By Diana Adams

Have you noticed that Twitter has been a little slow the last few days? There is something more than just the holiday that is making your Twitter stream move slowly. You’ve read about it on Mashable, on TechCrunch and on blogs all over the internet. It’s the new fad, called doing a “digital cleanse.”

John Mayer introduced the idea on his blog December 30th, and in four days, it has become the new health craze – healthy for your mind and spirit. Even @Jason_Pollock is currently on a digital cleanse.

The concept is that you basically unplug. There are some exceptions which he listed on his blog post here – http://jhnmyr.tumblr.com/post What’s the thought process behind it? In a nutshell, we are all so attached to our email, IM, social media, etc… that we no longer make telephone calls or interact with people the way we used to.

We are always in a frenzied mental state, taking in bits of information from all over the place and responding constantly. According to John Mayer, this is a mentally scattered and unfocused existence. People everywhere are joining him in this cleanse. Some people are doing it for a day or two, some for a week.

I have a different perspective on the whole thing. I just have one question, why would I ever want to give up Twitter for a week? That would not be an enlightened experience for me, instead, that would be torture. Why do people still go on and on about how unhealthy it is to be a social media addict? I mean, really, aren’t there worse things to be addicted to? My best friends are on Twitter, why would I want to alienate myself… just to prove I’m still capable of making a phone call?

I know we all need a break every now and then from our computers, but can’t we do that without completely giving up the things we love? Isn’t that a little bit extreme? Besides, isn’t that what a vacation is for? Maybe I’m missing something and you can educate me, but really, I don’t get it. I’m not criticizing anyone that thinks they need this, I’m not one to judge anyone for their decisions, I’m just saying for me personally, it’s not happening.

According to John Mayer’s blog, he has invited everyone that participated to come back after the cleanse and share their experiences. I’m excited to see what people say about their experience with this.

Thank you to http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielgilles/3044872397 for the great picture above!

Author: Diana Adams

By day, Diana is the CEO/owner of Adams Consulting Group, Inc, a technology services and business solutions consultancy firm serving the specific needs of its clients in advertising and public relations. By night, she lives and breathes by writing. After publishing a small cookbook last year, she is now working on her new masterpiece, scheduled for publishing next year. “I could write all night long and not get tired of it. I think that is when you know you’ve tapped into a true passion. Whatever that thing may be, if you could do it all day or night long, lose track of time, ‘wake up’ ten hours later, and still thirst for more, that is a passion, and I feel like I’ve found that in my writing.” Diana also spends many hours each week assisting the homeless men and women in Atlanta. You can find her on Twitter at @adamsconsulting.

4 Comments

grace wieber

January 2nd, 2010

I am with you, D. I have always used ‘conventional means’ to communicate; and I find that the social media outlets are likened to the ‘Pop In’ ~ unexpectedly delightful. It has added to my daily experiences…

[Reply]

Diana Adams Reply:
January 2nd, 2010 at 8:30 pm

Thank you Grace! You worded that so well, I love it!

[Reply]

Ted

January 3rd, 2010

I just don’t think John Mayer should get credit for dreaming this up. People have been “unplugging” for days or weeks at a time since the Internet boom started. We don’t need social media superstars to tell us what we need.

[Reply]

Sü Smith

January 6th, 2010

I myself have taken a different approach. After viewing “Do some people actually read?”, I’ve made the decision to s-l-o-w down a tad. Twitter can be very addicting. I have the tendency to gobble everything up at a very rapid rate and immediately retweet to share the love. It’s time to soak it all in and experience the web at it’s fullest, including leaving very thoughtful comments. I’m still active on twitter but running at a more steady pace instead of a high speed wobble.