I detest the idea of Social Media Day. To me, it seems like a couple of Facebook friends got together and said, “Hey! We don’t pat our own backs enough online, so let’s make a fake holiday to celebrate how much time we waste online!”
Social Media Day reminds me of the old Earth Day slogan, “Make Earth day every day!”. If you use social media in any sense, you probably use it at least once day. If you do that, then every day is Social Media Day in some sense. And if Social Media Day is everyday, do we really need to pick a day to celebrate? Is there any point beyond self-satisfaction?
So, I’m going to propose another holiday for us to celebrate. A day where we avoid social media. A day where we take the time to actually connect with people in meaningful, physical ways. I call this day Anti-Social Media Day.
Anti-Social Media day is the day where you put down your smartphone and close your laptop. You take the time to make real, physical things. You communicate in ways that mean more than a blast of text. It’s like living in 1986, but without the bad hair.
Here are things you can do to celebrate Anti-Social Media day:
- Call someone on the phone. Actually hear their voice. Converse about meaningful things. Maybe you can go crazy and start a FaceTime chat, or maybe you could Skype someone. Either way, stop hiding behind your text and use your voice to communicate with someone.
- Spend time with your friends. Sure, you can go to a meet up where everyone is glued to his or her phone and Twitter, but where’s the fun in that? Stop hiding behind your smartphone and go see people you like. Play a video game, play a sport, or go for a walk. Do something besides sitting behind your computer all day.
- Write something for just one person, with a pen and paper. It doesn’t matter if you write for yourself or for a friend. Write something down. Write postcards and letters. Write in a journal. Just write something physical for someone to read later. Writing creates real things people can keep and treasure, not just tweets and texts that are cleared out once a month or forgotten into the oblivion of the internet.
Every day can be Anti-Social Media Day if you want it to be. It doesn’t just have to be June 30. Make every day count for something other than a fleeting tweets and Facebook updates.
Jay Dolan said:
@SaulFleischman I do enjoy connecting with the people I speak with online in real life. The trouble for me is I like these events to have a purpose other than "Let's call this day Social Media Day." If they even called it "Social Media Meetup Day" it would make a lot more sense to me. And, if nothing else, I did go to an SEO meetup tonight, so that does count for something. :-D
@StephenApp I agree, but why choose such an awful name if we're going to meetup? Also, I like for there to be a purpose behind my meetups beyond "Go Social Media!"
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Wed, 2010-06-30 23:45 — Jay Dolanstephenapp said:
I think the point of Social Media Day is to do the things you wish would happen on 'Anti-social Media Day'. The whole idea here is to gather like-minded individuals at a physical location and allow them to talk and interact at a personal level. The Mashable SMDay Philly is still 10 hours away, but I've already contacted friends on the phone to invite them and spoken with other attendees, and I plan on talking in person with a large group of people tonight. It might be a day to celebrate an industry that encourages electronic communication, but for one day, those involved in the industry will spend one day communicating on a much more personal level. Isn't that what you want?
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Wed, 2010-06-30 09:42 — Steve AppStephen App said:
I have to agree with Saul - The idea here isn't just to 'pat ourselves on the back' but to meet up in very way that you requested in your post above. By having a Social Media Day, professionals from all over can meet up in person and talk face-to-face and communicate in a more personal way about an industry that's growing in several different ways.
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Wed, 2010-06-30 09:20 — Stephen AppSaulFleischman said:
Jay,
For starters, I love that line, "we don't pat our own backs enough online, so-" Conversely, I launched the Sakai City (Osaka, Japan) Mashable SMDay, no one agreed to come. For free, even. So, I am dangling legs on both sides of the fence.
When all is said and done, its an excuse to meet face-to-face with people like you and I: heavy social media consumers. I believe in meeting that way, with shared-interest people. Invariably you learn far more about what a person is actually busy with - than what shows on his profile. Don't you find this as well?
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Wed, 2010-06-30 01:21 — Saul FleischmanPost new comment