the fish tumbleth

minimalmac:

Communication is key to an email sabbatical. Disappearing without properly making certain that everyone has what they need is irresponsible and disrespectful.

Those who have been following one of my other little projects, Practical Opacity, already know what a big geek crush I have on Dr. Danah Boyd. She is one of the world’s leading researchers on social communication in the digital age with a focus on social networking and teens. One of the (many) things I love about her is the approach she takes to vacations and sabbaticals. You see, she does not simply “unplug” only to arrive back to an overflowing inbox that makes the vacation seem far from worth it. She informs everyone that any messages arriving during that time will be automatically redirected to /dev/null (aka “the trash”). It may sound harsh but the reasoning is sound:

I do feel guilty not personally responding to these people to say that I’m unavailable but that’s precisely the point. I need to let go in order to truly take a break and refresh. Are there going to be people pissed off at me because I’m on vacation? Sure. But I’m also used to getting pissed off emails everyday from all sorts of people yelling at me for my attempt to explain teen life. Part of me feels a guilty pleasure knowing that I will never see 5 weeks worth of angry emails. 

<swoon!>

I’ve been struggling with how much of the Practical Opacity stuff also overlaps into the message of “Enough” that I’m trying to curate here. I think a lot of it is interconnected. A big part of enough is making some tough and hard line choices about what is appropriate for you. This does not just stop at hardware and software but also in making some sane and rational decisions about how you plan to survive the increasing demands on your time and attention. Therefore, I may be talking a bit more about this stuff here in the times to come.