Social Media Detox

I am going on a two week vacation to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. One of the things I would like to accomplish is a clean up of my social media use. Another is a detox of sorts: I want to see if I can give up daily checking and participation in Facebook.

I use my personal page on Facebook for communication with close friends and family. I do not feel comfortable having coworkers on it. I keep my Personal Facebook page mostly private. I do not want a situation where things I do at work to spill into my private life, and things I do in my private life to spill into work. I don’t want to constantly wonder if something that I say to my close friends and family may touch a nerve with someone at work.

For professional networking I use Twitter, LinkedIn, github, WordPress, StackOverflow, and a professional page on Facebook. I am extremely careful with what I say in these forums and I make sure my posts are based on publicly available information. Nothing I say in that media should be construed as an opinion of or about any of my employers, past, present or future¹. I voice opinions about technology, science and processes. I do not voice opinions about individuals.

With all that said, please – if you in the past followed me through my personal Facebook page and found yourself unfriended, don’t take it as an offense. It means I respect you as my professional contact and I wish for our relationship to stay professional. Please follow me using professional networking tools.