????8月底，我朋友莎拉的房子給燒了,。她是一名社會(huì)工作者,，沒(méi)有租戶保險(xiǎn),。她的朋友們立即開(kāi)始組織起來(lái)幫助她,。我姐姐在Facebook上發(fā)起了一個(gè)撲克比賽的邀請(qǐng)，目的就是為了給她募集捐款,。還有人在面向個(gè)人項(xiàng)目的眾籌融資網(wǎng)站Gofundme.com上創(chuàng)立了一個(gè)籌款網(wǎng)頁(yè)，希望幫助抵消她清洗自己隨身物品的費(fèi)用,。到目前為止,，她的朋友們已籌集了2,400美元,。

????當(dāng)然,，我對(duì)這一切一無(wú)所知,。我問(wèn)我姐姐：“沒(méi)有人出面為莎拉做點(diǎn)什么事情嗎,？”我聽(tīng)到她在電話里嘆了口氣。

????她問(wèn)我：“你停用社交媒體的行動(dòng)打算什么時(shí)候結(jié)束??？”

????今年8月份，我停用社交媒體一段時(shí)間,。我平靜地預(yù)先通知了朋友和同事,，之后，我注銷(xiāo)了自己使用的一切社交服務(wù)網(wǎng)站：Instagram,、LinkedIn,、Pinterest、MessageMe,、Twitter以及最至關(guān)重要的Facebook,，希望以此來(lái)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己過(guò)去十年以來(lái)究竟獲得和失去了什么。我采取了一種極端的做法,。我還停用了即時(shí)通訊服務(wù)，而且嘗試停止發(fā)短信,。基本上,，我對(duì)自己在過(guò)去十年里增添的任何新的社交通信服務(wù)都進(jìn)行了一番審視,。我希望,，通過(guò)停用社交媒體一個(gè)月，可以讓我對(duì)自己撰文報(bào)道的這些技術(shù)產(chǎn)生新的認(rèn)識(shí),。以下就是我從中得到的一些領(lǐng)悟：

????社交媒體意義深遠(yuǎn)：好吧,，我已經(jīng)明白這一點(diǎn)。我之所以在自己的職業(yè)生涯中全力傾注于撰寫(xiě)有關(guān)社交媒體的文章是有原因的,。但社交媒體在我生活中歷時(shí)一個(gè)月的缺席增強(qiáng)了它的重要性,。莎拉住房遭遇火災(zāi)這件事是一個(gè)極端的例子，表明社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)工具如何讓人們能夠迅速而有效地組織起來(lái)。這些社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)工具給莎拉帶來(lái)的遠(yuǎn)不止于金錢(qián)——朋友們凝聚在一起,，向她提供暫作睡床的沙發(fā),，幫忙照看小狗，以及一般性的支持,。

????大多數(shù)任務(wù)借助于社交工具效果會(huì)更好：今年8月份,，我常常懷念社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)帶給我的便利。隨著越來(lái)越多的服務(wù)（從住宅共享網(wǎng)站Airbnb到流媒體音樂(lè)網(wǎng)站Spotify）讓用戶使用他們的社會(huì)關(guān)系,，我也已經(jīng)開(kāi)始依靠朋友們的決定來(lái)對(duì)一切事情做出更好的判斷——從在哪里住宿（梅利斯曾住在伊斯坦布爾的那幢公寓樓里,，因此那里很可能不錯(cuò)），到把哪些歌曲放進(jìn)我的播放列表（謝莉在這方面特別有品味）,。

????社交媒體可以世俗：我的社交網(wǎng)站已經(jīng)成為個(gè)人一周七天/每天24小時(shí)的通俗小報(bào),，通過(guò)iPhone，我總是可以立刻享用它,，那上面的食物照片以及頭上扎著大蝴蝶結(jié)的嬰兒照片往往會(huì)吸引我的注意力,。（順便說(shuō)一聲：蝴蝶結(jié)并不可愛(ài)。）

????濫用不是社交媒體的錯(cuò)： 9月1日到來(lái)時(shí),，我沒(méi)有立即登錄自己的那些社交網(wǎng)站,。我確信，補(bǔ)看一個(gè)月的非重要信息會(huì)花費(fèi)幾個(gè)小時(shí)的時(shí)間,。我把這項(xiàng)任務(wù)拖延至9月2日,，然后發(fā)現(xiàn)，我只花了大約10分鐘之內(nèi),，我就已經(jīng)查看了所有信息和帖文,。我意識(shí)到，社交媒體令人討厭的地方大多涉及到我使用社交媒體的習(xí)慣,，而不是這些工具本身,。就像任何其他容易讓人上癮的東西（或許是葡萄酒，或者薯片）一樣,，我必須找到一些明智的辦法來(lái)設(shè)定一些限制,。

????最終，我停用社交媒體的一個(gè)月讓我能夠列出自己的許多壞習(xí)慣,，注意到自己希望改變的行為,。最值得一提的是，我已經(jīng)開(kāi)始依靠社交媒體來(lái)回避讓我自己不自在的線下社交場(chǎng)合,。比如來(lái)到一個(gè)完全沒(méi)有熟人的燒烤聚會(huì),，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己就會(huì)不知不覺(jué)地拿出手機(jī)玩，裝作自己正在干某件“更加重要”的事情,。而且,，每當(dāng)我實(shí)在想讓自己不思考任何事情的時(shí)候，我也會(huì)求助于社交媒體,。一個(gè)很好的例子就是：過(guò)去的一小時(shí)里,，我實(shí)際上并沒(méi)有在撰寫(xiě)這篇報(bào)道，而是不由自主地去Twitter和Facebook網(wǎng)站查看有沒(méi)有新的信息,。我用它來(lái)發(fā)呆——就像在付了有線電視服務(wù)之后,，我可能會(huì)在不喜歡的有線電視頻道之間迅速切換,。

????My friend Sarah's home burned down at the end of August. A social worker, she didn't have renter's insurance. Her friends immediately started organizing on her behalf. My sister sent around a Facebook invite for a poker tournament to raise funds. Someone else organized a fundraising page on Gofundme.com to help offset the cost of cleaning her belongings. So far, her friends have raised $2,400.

????Of course, I missed all of this. "Isn't anyone doing anything for Sarah?" I asked my sister. I could hear her sigh over the phone.

????"When is this social media diet over?" she asked.

????Last August, I took a break from social media. With fair warning to my friends and colleagues, I signed off every single social service—Instagram, LinkedIn (LNKD), Pinterest, MessageMe, Twitter, and most crucially, Facebook (FB)—in hopes of discovering what I've gained—and lost—over the past decade. I took an extreme approach. I also quit instant messaging services and I tried to stop texting. Basically, any new social communication service I'd added in the past decade was up for examination. I hoped that my month off would give me new perspective on these technologies about which I write. Here's what I learned:

????SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE PROFOUND: Okay, I already knew this. I have devoted my career to writing about it for a reason. But its absence reinforced its significance. Sarah's tragedy is an extreme example of the way in which social networking tools allow people to organize quickly and effectively. They brought Sarah much more than money—friends came together to offer couches, dog care, and general support.

????MOST TASKS ARE BETTER WITH SOCIAL TOOLS: Many times in August, I longed for the ease of my social network. As more and more services, from the home-sharing site Airbnb to the music-streaming site Spotify, let users access their social connections, I have come to rely on my friends' decisions to make better judgments about everything from where to stay (Melis stayed in that apartment in Istanbul so it's probably good) to what's on my playlist (Shelley's tastes are particularly good).

????SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE MUNDANE: My social sites have become personal 24/7 tabloids, always at the ready via my iPhone (APPL) to absorb my attention with food photographs and pictures of babies with big bows on their heads. (FYI: Bows are not cute.)

????IT'S NOT SOCIAL MEDIA'S FAULT: When September 1 came, I didn't log on to my social sites immediately. I was certain the task of catching up on a month's worth of nonessential messages would take hours. I put the task off until Sept. 2, and then discovered that I had screened all of my messages and posts within about ten minutes. I realized that much of what is annoying about social media concerns my social media habits, not the tools themselves. Just like with any other addictive substance—wine, perhaps, or potato chips—I had to find smart ways to set limits.

????Ultimately, my month-long social media diet allowed me to catalogue my own bad habits—to observe the behavior I hoped to changed. Most notably, I've leaned on social media to remove myself from offline social situations I find uncomfortable. When I landed at a barbecue where I didn't know anyone, I found myself reaching for my phone as a way to hide under the guise of doing something "more important." And I also turned to social media whenever I wanted to avoid really thinking about something. A great example: for the last hour, instead of actually writing this story, I've been checking Twitter and Facebook compulsively for updates. I use it to zone out—the same way I might have flipped through bad cable channels back when I paid for cable TV.