Timeout for Updates

A friend of mine told me I needed to take a technology timeout; and I'm wondering what's a timeout from technology? I read in a blog yesterday written by a man that was trying to take a time out from technology by spending a week on the beach. I thought it was a little ironic that he was taking the time to blog (I think, via his cell phone) while he was supposed to be relaxing on the beach. (But a well-written blog post, nonetheless!)

Yeah, okay, so you are writing about the irony of saying you are taking a break from technology then using technology to blog. What's your point? The point I am trying to say, and wonder, is Is there really such thing is a break from technology, aside from going Amish? Have we really become so attached to our high-tech devices as a society that we cannot let go, kick back and enjoy the beauty around us?

I think there is a happy medium, though. Sometimes we can get so caught up in trying to do day to day activities, such as work and home, and trying to keep up with our social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc) that we fail to take time out for some things that need to be done. And then we put those tasks off, procrastinating to the point where the tasks become to daunting that we feel overwhelmed.

Last night as I was waiting, rather impatiently to try to get into Google Plus, I pulled up some student podcasts from this past year that I have been needing to post to the website. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was redoing my teacher page that is attached to my school's website. The teacher site had been needing to be updated since the beginning of last year, and now it is time to update it once again for the coming year. Now, I know some would have said to just ditch the student work and forget adding it to the website, try for next year. But it was important for me to showcase them on our website for the students and the parents. This was something that needed to be done while school was still in session, I realize, but at least now they are up there. And I can find some comfort, or relaxation in the knowledge that I followed through with what I told my students.

After spending the night working on several pages for my teacher site and seeing that all shiny-new on the website today, I'm thinking maybe its time to stop procrastinating on other issues, and get to it! (We won't even talk about organizing my desk at home in this blog post! :) (Sorry, babe...) If you are a regular reader of this blog, and have been kind enough not to comment on the state of the rest of the website, I dearly appreciate it. However, it has been sadly neglected and desperately needs a make-over. Time to stop tossing around all those ideas in my head for what I want to change and put it to action! This is what I mean by taking time out for updates. Time to stop paying attention to what's happening on Twitter or Facebook - all those posts will be there for me to catch up on when I come back, the school's website is pretty well updated and everyone's happy (that I know of) with that. So, now its time to turn my attention to something that I'm actually paying hosting on, but am too embarrassed to show of in my ed tech circles. No more excuses, no more apologizing, just going to knuckle down over the next week or so and get it done. :)

What is it that you are needing to work on? Do you have a pile on your desk, or a folder in your computer that you have been collecting stuff, but never putting to use? How about taking a technology timeout for updates? At least a time out from the social media scene...