Ditching FB and your Smartphone: The good, the bad and the ugly.

What would happen if you were to stop using your smartphone and you were to delete your FB account forever? Would life stop? How much would your world change?

It has been almost 5 years since I quit using a smartphone and about 3 years since I gave Facebook the boot. Luckily, I am still alive. In fact, life has been quite normal in many ways: I have been working nonstop, I have met tons of fascinating people and I have even developed award-winning media projects that many consider innovative. One could say I have lived an interesting and productive existence without a smartphone; however, I would lie to you if I told you that every part of this experience has been positive.

A week ago a friend emailed me this article about a man who documented the process of breaking up with his smartphone. My friend intended to congratulate me for having made what seemed a wise decision. Interesting enough I felt no pride, I actually found it very hard to relate to the person who had written the article, to the point that I was forced to think deeply about the real implications of my decision and the different effects it has had in my life ever since.

On that note, I thought it'd be nice to share with you the results of my introspection. Perhaps you may also be thinking about quitting your Smartphone and FB and this personal information can be of good use to you. Perhaps you may find it utterly stupid to quit your Smartphone, but these thoughts allow you to pause and think about your own relationship with these technologies that hold such an important place in our lives.

So, without further ado, here's a list of 10 personal reflections based on my own experience of living life for a few years without good ol' Smartphone and Facebook:

1) I figured out that most people suck at multitasking.

Yes, it is true, there are exceptional folks who have mastered the art of switching seamlessly from one conversation/task to another. Unfortunately, I have yet to really meet one of them in person.

On the surface, people seem very productive when they interrupt a conversation to check on that email, respond to that WhatsApp message or like that important post. As a matter of fact, they seem so productive that at first it made me feel guilty for not having a smartphone; I felt I would be unable to rock at life as everyone seemed to be doing it. Fortunately, time passes by, unveiling the actual results of people's decisions.

By "results" I mean, in the end of the day, are these Multi-Taskers honestly:

a) Making a great deal of money?

b) Managing their anxiety more effectively and handling life's curve balls better than ever?

c) Getting more stuff done than ever before?

d) Living more fulfilled lives that provide them with more extra time to spend doing things they love with the people they love?

The answer to those questions is usually "No." After a long period of time, I have realized that most people that seem very busy with their phones are not necessarily scoring higher on any of those important elements. In contrast, I find myself actually doing better at some of these, all without having to ignore people while they're talking, to respond to an email that has nothing to do with the conversation that we're having. I would say then that perhaps multitasking isn't yielding the great results that people seem to think, or perhaps most people really suck at multitasking and they are unable to accept it.

2) I care little about what other people do, because I don’t know what they do.

Images have so much power. That one picture you took smiling as you were about to bungee jump in New Zealand has the power to excite and depress people in a matter of milliseconds. Fortunately - or unfortunately - I did not see that picture. I may have known you were in New Zealand, which actually is a nice thought, but I did not see your carefully constructed rendition of how much fun you were having.

I find this both negative and positive. On one hand, there are many things I'm missing out on a regular basis; I hardly know what people are doing anymore. On the other hand, I feel it has given me more control into who I want to know about. I don't just get notifications, I have to decide "ok, let me see what this person is doing", and look for their public Instagram profile or send them an email/call them, and actually ask them that question myself.

I have also stopped fighting with relatives and old friends about silly stuff. I can't see what my cousin said on FB to support his obnoxious political views, therefore, I am not fighting about that anymore. After many years of this happening, you get a good idea of how useless it is to engage in those conversations in social media in the first place. I understand that having those type of conversations could benefit society, but are they really benefiting us when they are done through Facebook? Or are they just dividing us more than ever before by removing the nuances and intimacy that exist in real person-to-person conversations?

3) I’m more aware of the difference between “relevance” and “perceived relevance.”

There are things that are "relevant," therefore they are important to your current life and circumstances. For example, knowing that a tornado is about to hit the place where you live is certainly very relevant, as it will help you make the right decisions that may save your life. On the other hand, there are things that we perceive as relevant, which in the digital society is usually tied to the amount of views, likes and shares that a piece of information may acquire throughout a specific period of time. On that note, what Beyonce may have said about the same tornado is certainly "perceived relevance," which can become "relevant" as people place more emphasis on it than on the actual relevant information. There are, obviously, die-hard Beyonce fans who may find some real relevance in whatever she has to say right off the bat.

Perhaps what Beyonce thinks isn't as relevant as you may perceive it to be

FB and Smartphones can be used as tools to enhance "perceived relevance". They can also warp the concept of relevance, making folks fall into mental traps where they care more about what one person far away is doing - or saying through twitter - than about what their own neighbors are doing, which may have a much more real and important impact on their lives in the end. I am unsure if understanding this difference between these two types of relevance is good or bad, as it can certainly make you feel that what people perceive as relevant, it may really not be that relevant after all.

4) I am more cognizant of the amount of data we're currently sharing.

The other day I got earlier to an appointment and decided to take a walk and explore the area where I was. While walking, I thought about the fact that I didn't have a Smartphone with me, therefore I was not tracking all my positional data - how many steps I took, in which direction I took them, how much time I stopped at each location I visited, and so on. Had I had a smart phone, perhaps I would have been less cognizant of this fact, after all I would have probably been maximizing the benefits of that device. Maybe had I had a smartphone, I would have taken pictures along the way, or played tunes through Spotify, or just never taken that walk and spent my time perusing Instagram instead. Who knows...

What I do know, is that jolly Mark Zuckerberg will not be FB's CEO forever, nor Tim Cook will be always commanding Apple, nor Sergey Brin will remain president of Alphabet for years to come, and thus those companies current morals and corporate values can change radically for better or worse with new leaderships. So, what if they take a turn for the worse? What happens to all the data they're currently collecting about ourselves and our life experiences? Unless that data is yours, controlled by you, you may have a say in what happens to it; but that isn't the case. So, who knows... who knows what they will do with everything they know about you? I honestly feel that not having a smartphone or FB has made me quite sensitive to this particular topic.

5) I realized that almost anything could wait an extra second or two.

That's right. Regardless of how important it may seem to answer to that one email right away, I have found that it could also perhaps wait until I get home. I understand sometimes that's not the case, but MOST of the time it is. I am aware though, that my lack of response-speed could put off some folks. This raises a very important question: are those the type of folks I really want to engage with anyways? In other words, if my ability to respond quickly has much more importance to a client than my work, talent and commitment to their enterprise, do I really want to work with them?

6) I may enjoy digital content much more than the avid smartphone/FB user.

Just as a pothead can get much higher by simply quitting their habit for a good amount of time, so can digital content have an enhanced effect on your brain when you're not constantly bombarded by it. It's a cool feeling and a terrifying one as well, as you slowly start to operate differently than most folks you know. People have seen it all. In any given minute they see a bear riding a bike, then they see lava obliterate a car, then they see a massive CGI wave swallow New York, then they see a Trump meme where he blasts fire through his mouth, then they see their Grandma post her latest pecan pie. While I still stop at every picture and enjoy them in awe, people swift through dozens of them, rendering them all almost irrelevant.

Not having a smartphone or using FB, forces me to have to be very careful to not underestimate how desensitized people really are about digital content. Not paying attention to this fact can make my job as a digital content creator much harder. Luckily for me, I have also focused on training, education, internal communications and video storytelling targeted to specific purposes such as trade shows, one-to-one meetings or fundraising; all areas of communication lacking innovation where dreadful Powerpoint presentations are still the norm. I do feel terrible for those folks working only in the marketing/advertising fields that have to create compelling digital content mainly for mobile consumption.

7) I may have made myself irrelevant.

Just as I am unable to see what people are doing, people are unable to see what I'm doing as well. As a matter of fact, given that I'm barely on the radar of many folks, I have had to work a bit harder to add "perceived relevance" to many efforts I'm undertaking. This has really forced my team to have to work much harder to promote content that can benefit from high visibility, such as an independent feature film we released last year.

I admit that irrelevance can be a serious issue, especially if one lets it be an issue. If getting people's validation is extremely important to you, the lack of it can cause high levels of anxiety and depression. On the other hand, it is clear that as long as one continues on moving, doors will continue on opening. Certainly, I may never become the next viral sensation, but is that really something I want? Should we continue considering success the ability to turn as many heads as possible, or could we consider success the ability to turn the "right" heads instead? I don't necessarily have the answers to those questions, but I do think about them through another lens as a result of not having been an active part of the social media game for so long.

8) I have overcompensated by doubling down on my laptop/desktop.

Yes, I am constantly checking my email on my laptop and computer. Boohoo. I would lie to say that I am completely disconnected, quite the opposite, I am still very much connected. The main difference is that I have to be next to my computer to get connected, instead of having a vibrating portable computer in my pocket constantly reminding me that I have to connect.

9) I have had to rely on my partner’s Smartphone many times.

Ok, I'm not as hardcore as I wish I were. I am actually thankful that my wife keeps her Smartphone, as it has been crucial for us in many occasions. In fact, I admit that not having a smartphone at all would have made it very hard on us, especially on the many business trips we undertook over the past few years. There are many moments when on a trip we have had to look for a certain address, or approve a specific asset from a creative we're working with, or send an email to a client before their business day ends. When used sporadically and strategically, smartphones are really very awesome devices.

10) I am obviously “missing it” enough that I got myself back on Linkedin.

The fact that I'm back on Linkedin, writing articles such as this one, is proof that I'm missing the interaction and sense of belonging that social media can offer. I do admit that I now find it a bit harder to peruse the News Feed with the same interest than before. I may have become a bit more cynical about what people post and more sensitive about the possible motivations behind their postings. Are they sharing information to enhance our collective wisdom, or are they only looking for external validation? Then again, who am I to judge? By writing and sharing this article, am I not part of the same game?