Turning Down the Noise

You know what I'm starting to really appreciate?

quiet.

It's not that my life is any noisier or more stimulating than anyone else's, but recently I've noticed that I increasingly delight in quiet time. Cases in point:  

• When something prompts me to turn off the radio while driving, I breath a sigh of relief at the silence

• If I don't turn on the computer after I get home from work, by the time I'm ready for bed I realize that not only did I survive being unplugged, but I actually found peace in not checking my email or Facebook.

This need and desire for quiet comes at an interesting and perhaps inopportune time. This week I'm taking a course in social media marketing to benefit my employer. My days have been chock full of  Twitter, blogs, Facebook, and YouTube, with introductions to Booshaka, Tweepz, Klout, Technorati and Bit.ly. It probably goes without saying that social media is noisy. Cluttered, busy, constant, and really, truly, noisy. Consider the the statistics I've heard this week:

• 50,400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every day; the equivalent of 176,400 full-length Hollywood movies each week
• The average American spends one out of every 4 1/2  minutes online
• 40% of iPhone moms download games for their children, offering what's been termed a "digital pacifier"
• The iPad is the #1 item interest to purchase in the next six months for kids ages 6-12
• More than 350 million people log onto Facebook each month

Obviously it would be easy to spend 24-hours a day with social media, but at what cost? How many of us have tried to enjoy a meal with a spouse, friend, or family member only to have them more engaged with their smart phone than they are with you? How often do you half listen to your children while writing your blog post, updating your status on Facebook, or checking your email? Even this week I've found myself constantly dividing my attention between the class presenter, TweetDeck, Facebook, and office-related projects. My head swims just thinking about it.

So here I am, learning how to be more engaged and effective in the virtual world, and all I really want to do is unplug, refresh, and reboot. Finding that balance is a never-ending challenge and one that we'll each need to wrestle with literally for the rest of our lives.

If you've found a way to stay connected yet keep your soul, humanity, and marriage and family intact, how about sharing? You can comment, blog, tweet, create a YouTube video, develop a slide show for SlideShare, comment on a discussion board, podcast, share it Facebook....