The new year has begun, which means you have officially made it to the future… again. It’s that time of year when the Internet blooms with lists of resolutions, sufficiently shaming you into making change in your life… at least for a few weeks. You promise to get organized, lose weight, be a better person, quit your bad habits and spend more time with friends and family. But why rehash the same old bound-to-fail IRL vows, when there are a plethora of resolutions tailor-made for your digital life?
Don’t Mix Meals and Tech
Seriously, switch on the do not disturb setting or shut it off. Sit down and enjoy your food and those long awkward pauses that come from forgetting how to have face to face conversations. Giving yourself some offline time, it will make you appreciate the gifts of digital privilege all the more.
Stop Googling Yourself
Unless you’re testing the SEO (search engine optimization) work on your new personal site, stop Googling yourself. Just set up a few Google alerts with your name or that of your project or company and let Google do the embarrassing work of stalking your online ego for you. (But if you’re going to do it anyway, at least use an incognito window so you get more accurate results.)
Update Your Profile Pictures
It’s the first month of a new year, update your profile pictures. You might consider showing people what you actually look like. Especially if you’re still using that one perfectly angled pic from five years ago. Be generous with your actual face, share it with the world.
Ditch Cable
Unless you are a super-committed daytime television watcher, it’s time to cut the cord with cable. With a huge range of programming options from Hulu Plus, Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon Prime, you can stop paying for hundreds of channels you never watch and start picking the few shows you are actually interested in. And hey, if none of those providers work for you there’s always good old-fashioned unblocking plugins like Hola!, which lets you watch the BBC to your heart’s content. #sherlocklives!
