The Offline Report

A friend who refuses to communicate outside her favorite social media messenger met me for wine after work last week. It was not frictionless - we had to decide on a location, arrive separately, wonder if we had a different place than the other person had in mind, interrupt our weekday routine, carve time away from our kids and spouses. And it was so worth it. We did the same thing last year. It was like a nutrient-rich shake. So much more information was exchanged in that annual cocktail meeting about our personal lives than is ever exchanged on the plethora of "look at me" vanity posts we publish to social media. I smell a trend coming, and coming strong. See also: What CJR says is Eating the World . Why Scripting News says We're Not Eaten Yet

A New Year's resolution this year was to quit one of the major social media platforms. I informed two friends of this resolution to hold myself accountable. One of the two friends had quit last year as a 2015 resolution of her own. And she'd told two friends, one of whom had gone cold turkey in 2014. Is slow media a trend? Have you tried a phone-less family vacation? A family technology shabbat ? We'll explore the neap tide between slow and fast media, and all things offline, in posts to come.