an extended meditation on presence (we also have chickens)
If you haven't heard about Small Web July yet, here are some links:
small cypress: A Small Web July
straydogstrut: A small web July
starbreaker: Small Web July
The point: To spend July exploring the small Web and/or real life instead of spending time on the corporate/commercialized Web.
I'm not sure designating July as a separate small-Web month helps me much. I started this process in January; since then I've deleted every personal social media account. I no longer watch YouTube; except for FloMarching, I don't stream anything at all. (And I can't realistically drop FloMarching in July, because July *is* DCI season.) I do still get my news from major sites, but I do it via my RSS feed reader and Refdesk:
Since it's July, and thus summer vacation, I don't even have contact with Google or Facebook for work. I chose not to teach summer school this year, so I don't have to look at my work email until August. (...Well, the last week of July. I do still have to teach a band camp.)
As for building and spending more time in the real world: I gotchu covered, fam. I have a chicken coop that needs to be finished by the end of the month, a garden that needs weeding at least once a day, and three rapidly-growing baby chicks in my spare bedroom who are obsessed with MAMA MAMA MAMA (it's me, I'm mama). My parents live on a lake and I know where they hide the keys to the boathouse. I'm good to go!
And, perhaps the only useful point I can make in this Small Web July conversation: I'm much more satisfied with my life than I ever was on the corporate Web.
For that reason alone, I support doing more Small Web July stuff. Get curious. Try life without social media for a week. Check DVDs out of the library and save yourself $15 in streaming fees this month. Whatever catches your fancy. It's worth it.
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