![[INCOMING] #BelshawBlackOps16 Pt.1](https://dougbelshaw.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_0977.jpg)
Since 2010, I’ve taken a personal digital hiatus for a least one month each year. This involves abstaining from social networks, personal email, and blogging in an attempt to be more mindful about my existence in the world.
This is a quick note to say that I’ll be away for the entire month of August. I’ll be spending all (or nearly all) of it camping around Europe with my family. The plan is to spend lots of time with my wife and two children, slow down, read, play, and be a different kind of person than I am for the rest of the year.
I’ll take the second part of my digital hiatus in December, after experimenting with the August/December approach last year and it working well. Taking two months together is a little too much, I’ve found. A month in the summer (sunshine! family!) is great, and a month in the winter (Christmas! Seasonal Affective Disorder!) is regenerative.
On our camping trip I’ll be taking minimal tech, but I will be taking my iPad and smartphone, so I’ll still have access to my work emails. Get in touch if you want to discuss working with me in September and beyond! I’m spending the next couple of weeks finishing up existing work for clients, travelling to California for some work with the Corona-Norco schools district, and tying off other loose ends.
Email: [email protected]
Image CC BY-NC-SA Tim Britton
Its January 1st, 2016 which means I’m back from my December hiatus. As ever, it’s been refreshing to step out of the stream of social media for a month, to do more offline things, to be a different version of myself.
I’m going to take my time to come back online slowly. I’ve actually already started semi-secretly blogging again; I’ll send a newsletter out this Sunday; the Twitter app is back on my mobile devices. Things are getting back a version of normal.
A very Happy New Year to you and those that are important to you! My family and I are looking to a an exciting, healthy, and prosperous year. I hope that describes your outlook, too.
If you read this blog and we’ve never been in touch before, please do drop me a line. Just say hello! I’d love to hear from you.
Image CC BY-NC Shawn Harquall
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’ll be spending the month of December away from personal, published, digital output. This includes personal emails, my Thought Shrapnel weekly newsletter, the Today In Digital Education (TIDE) podcast, blog posts, comments, and (even) the super-secret Slack channel I started this year with some pretty awesome people.
I’ll still be replying to work-related emails, so you can get me on my Dynamic Skillset address. If you’ve got my phone number (lucky you!) I’ll be replying to text messages, too. Other than that, I’ll be enjoying a different way of being that doesn’t involve a) thinking in 140 characters, b) expressing myself via animated gifs, and c) treating my brain as a way to connect together what other people are saying.
In terms of consultancy, I’ve got enough to keep me going for most of the first half of 2016, but do let me know if you’ve got projects you think I might be interested in around digital skills/literacies, badges, and/or educational technology!
Otherwise, see you on the other side. Have a great festive period and, for those of you in the northern hemisphere at least, keep warm!
Image CC BY-NC-SA Eric Leslie
