An entry from my tech blog

 Title: External, alienated, busy-busy

As you might know, almost a year ago, I made a big change in my use of social media - I segregated my social graph - work related stuff moved to LinkedIn and Twitter, and personal friends only on Facebook. Now, I have taken the next step, and made somewhat of a momentous decision. I'm not alone - Jon Stahl did this before me, and I know there are others. There are plenty of people who never entered these waters at all.

I have been fairly conflicted about this for a while. There are things I really like about Twitter, Identi.ca, Buzz, etc. I like being connected to the nptech community, and learning what's happening. I really like reaching out and getting questions answered. But, being on those networks has taken it's toll on me. It's time spent I need for other things. It's an influx of information in my brain that I really don't need. And I'm sure people really don't need to hear what I think or what I'm doing in 140 characters or less.

Most of the reason I named this blog "Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology" is that I am very interested in the ethical and spiritual dimensions of technology in general, and nonprofit technology in particular. And I'm very interested in the way my work affects me and my life. Thomas Merton, one of the people I look to for wisdom once said:

When I speak of the contemplative life ... I am talking about a special dimension of inner discipline and experience, a certain integrity and fullness of personal development, which are not compatible with a purely external, alienated, busy-busy existence.

(By "alienated" he meant alienated from ourselves.) For me (and only for me I'm not making any generalizations for others) this being almost always-on connected to the 140 characters-or-less social networks lead me to an external, alienated, busy-busy existence - the opposite of the direction I want to go. So ... I deleted my Four Square account, and I disconnected varied things from my twitter account. I won't be using the 1/2 dozen or social media accounts that I have.  I won't be tweeting really anymore. I haven't deleted my twitter account, so if you DM me, I'll still get an SMS telling me. But I won't be watching it for the most part.

I'll miss the banter, and the exchange. I'll miss the easy answers. I won't miss the barrage of info I don't need, or the time spent. And, I'll still be blogging. Although it likely won't be on too many up-to-the-minute news items (like the recent Ning Thing) because I'll be paying less attention to those goings on, and more attention to other, deeper things.