So it’s almost been a hundred days since I’ve been off of Facebook, IMs and Twitter for personal use, and…

…it’s about time.

It has been an absolute chore trying to connect with friends, readers and fellow gamers outside of these tools. Some people are only accessible via Facebook. Others rely on one tool or the other.

Not to mention, both Facebook and Twitter upgraded their messaging system. Now I get e-mails every time someone mentions me on Twitter, re-tweets a link, likes me on Facebook, etc. I even got a message that sounded a little creepy from Facebook, like Hal from Space Odyssey: “Monica, your friends are waiting.”

Last week I logged in to do some maintenance, and over the weekend I broke my silence with a single word: beer.

While I probably won’t be using the tools as much as I have in the past, a hundred days was a long time to conduct this experiment. I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been offline but, in the end, my conclusion is the same as my assumption: it’s just a tool like any other.

The interesting thing, is that getting off of social media has allowed me to do away with some really bad habits of mine. Like whenever I saw a “fail” meme, I felt obligated to uncover the real story instead of just blowing it off. Or when I noticed a blatant falsehood or incorrect piece of data, and felt it was necessary to help the person out — whether they wanted it or not. (You know, because no one is wrong on the internet… ever…)

The funny thing is, I’m finding that the less I know the better I feel and the more focused I am. I turned off Google Alerts and I’ll be turning off notifications, too. While I don’t (won’t) do away with social media completely, I feel I’ve finally got a grip on what I want to use the tools for.

And the best part? I no longer feel obligated to use them.

Less than a week and a half to go! Oy! In the meantime, I’m going to take a break from blogging this week so I can focus on my vampires.

‘Till then!