Friday 27 February 2009

Incommunicado: Four Days No Twitter


A warm log cabin, wide veranda stretched along the edge of idyllic wetlands. Mornings spent exploring the Island, walks and museums and parks – ours alone in the quiet off-season. Evenings devoid of television, playing Gloom in the clear night air, accompanied by good whisky and the brassy impertinence of geese…

Sometimes, you need to stop.

Recently, I passed the epiphany that was Tweet 23,000: shocking myself slack-jawed as I totalled out 230,000 words. Two novels (or half a Neal Stephenson) – and my two-year twitterversary next month… How much time have I spent?

I plead sophistry – I can tweet while looking after my home and family, wheras writing requires concentration – but that number grins too stark to be denied.

Hence, my holiday has been totally Incommunicado; leaving my phone in the office was both unintentional and perfectly timed. Before I left, I sent everyone and his cat a panicked email to explain my silence – more for my benefit than theirs, I know – and then turned to face that cold, beady-eyed turkey…

The world without the web.

On the first day, I wanted to tweet everything – the hovercraft ride, the cabin itself, the great food in the local pub – I was bereft, reaching, craving to share.

On the second day, I found distractions – a veranda-breakfast with ducks and moorhens, watching the cormorant pose like the Angel of Death – I involved myself with family and outings and allowed the hankering to recede.

On the third day, it had almost gone – I walked through an eternity of mud, saw a red squirrel in an ancient wood, made friends with an ocelot kitten – and Twitter was a world away, another life. My universe was smaller – yet each thing in it was precise and significant. Real.

On the fourth day, I reached for a RSPB book to discover what a Marsh Harrier looked like… and realised I was cured. No longer dwarfed by epic, breaking news or world-shaking media achievement, there was enough silence in my heart to be looking at the little things.

And understanding why they matter.

Call me a Social Media heretic if you will, four days Incommunicado has not only upped my wordcount (and my confidence to produce it), it’s also reminded me that red squirrels and ocelot kittens really matter – even when, especially when, they’re not validated by an audience. In the greater amphitheatre of Social Media, the mass-onslaught of feedback and information can deluge us, bury us under Significance and take our eyes from the things right in front of them.

Just like wordcount, just like Twitter itself in fact, we should remember – if we’re going to build BabelTower 2.0?

Even the biggest things are made up from the little ones.

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9 comments:

Dan Thornton said...

I'm just excited to find out that a young Ocelot is apparently a 'kitten'.

Cool.

Danacea said...

Oh Dan c'mon - we all know that a young Ocelot is called a Revolver...

Neil Ford said...

You need to let me know the location of this idyllic hideaway, Mrs F definitely thinks a week away would be a good idea.

Hopefully you have more pictures to post.

- Neil.

Danacea said...

Have a *stack* pf pix to put on Flickr, which I hope to do today.

The cabin is Harbour Farm Lodge, IoW - owned by a retired Lt. Col. who's very protective of it, understandably enough. When you call? Sound posh!!

And leave it in the peace in which you found it, but I'm guessing I don;t need to say that :)

Neil Ford said...

Ah, I have clients who have property in Bembridge, they probably know the owners. I think a week at the end of the year may very well be on the cards.

- Neil.

Rufus Dayglo said...

I know exactly how you felt...My weeks away from the internet were like a detox...a few days of panic/stress...then I forgot I even 'needed' to blog, twitter, blah,blah...

I need to find a log cabin somewhere evidently! LOL

Anonymous said...

wow!!!!
sounds awesome...
I really need something like that atm...
to dissapear...
God knows how I need that...

Danacea said...

Pretty sure there's no better place to just let your head unwind for a few days.

Since coming back, Captain Chaos and I have decided to give up television in the evenings.

Our lives are the better for it, as well ;-)

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