Do it, go dark. I did last fall/winter when things came up in my professional life, that led me to break from blogging. I also try to tweet as little as possible on the weekends.

Sometimes you just need time for you and walk away. My therapy is driving to the beach or just driving around with the top off my jeep in the warm weather. In the winter, I just curl up to a marathon of a TV series I need to see. Whatever you choose to spend your time doing instead of being on and under the spotlight, leave the phone out of reach for the instant crackberry addiction fix.

Good Luck.

Well, you were right. It worked. I may seem “on” more of the time than not, but I’ve taught myself to switch off. Or at least to separate myself from my “self.”

Do I need to go dark? Probably not. Did I need to take myself less seriously? Yeah.

Am I glad I didn’t go to SXSW this year? Yeah. Why? Probably because I’d be feeling the way you are now. Because I’ve felt that way, after I’ve given myself out a million times over because I’m “supposed to” and I have nothing left for me after I’m done.

I knew this Technosailor character before I knew you, Aaron. And there is a difference. I think you let people blur the lines too much. It’s a risk we take. You taught me that.

Technosailor can go on vacation. His fans can wait. But if Aaron gets hurt, his friends will be hurt far more than any audience Technosailor will ever have.

Take a break.

It’s funny. By nature, we’re all somewhat introverted and socially awkward, which is why we have careers on the Internet to begin with. But then somewhere along the “fame” hits. People begin to “know” you. They expect things. There are conferences to go to. People want a piece of you. You have to be on. There are more conferences. And you’re forced to be this hyped version of yourself 24/7. Because if you’re not that person, people feel let down. It hurts your brand. It hurts your social profile. So you do it.

And it’s completely exhausting.

We all need a break at some point to reevaluate and refuel. I’ve stopped blogging for 1-2 months (but still Twittered) while I changed jobs. I became far less visible for awhile and when I came back the people who still read were still there. The only thing that changed was that I was different. More committed. Back at it.

Take your break. You deserve it.

Respectfully, drop it. It doesn’t matter why.

I’m no celebrity on the web by any means, but I’ve taken a little break from the web (well, at least from the heavy content and networking bits) for the past little while — gone dark, we might say — just to remind myself that distance and introspection is a good thing.

Even us non-web-celebrities can get caught up too quickly in the push to produce and share, and sometimes it’s important (even for an extrovert) to break away for a bit.

I’m officially back in April, I think, but in the meantime, whatever you do decide, I hope just the process of thinking out this decision has been good for you.

Talk to you later.

Yes, I know you’re an introvert… most people I know in the Social Media space are. If we weren’t? We’d be busy carving out a space in a much more physically public arena – but instead we do it online – in a place where we control access.
There is some irony to our conferences because you end up having a bunch of introverted but gregarious people meeting in a physical space – where few of us are actually comfortable for long periods of time.

But all of that aside? I think perhaps you’re hitting that point where you start realizing that other peoples’ expectations of “Aaron/Technosailor” are getting in the way of the reasons you started doing this in the first place.

Find your center. Reground yourself. Recharge.
You’re interesting, insightful, and thought provoking… the “masses” will still be here when you get back.

While introspection is always a powerful medium, might I suggest, in echoing Leslie Poston and others who’ve tweeted about the issue, just do it.

Sometimes, not always, but every now and then, the best decisions I’ve made in life are the spontaneous ones. No build up, no fanfare, no reasons given when or why.

Enjoy the journey.

:: runs ::

Clearly, everyone needs “self” time, and you are no exception. I will say don’t let ‘em get ya down. Only because I have known you for some time and I do know you let “your adoring fans” affect how you write, what you write, and ultimately what we read.

You’re a good person Aaron, but grab that “you” time. It’s ok. (coming from a writer who has taken his fair share of “you” time)

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benito_Juárez

Iaax Page

Seriously, I don’t know how you and others in your situation do it. Facebook bores me to tears so I ignore it, and use Twitter only for news, reference, and being a smartass. But I could not be as constant as you without a good cry every . . . few hours.

Good luck, Aaron.

People are not wired up to handle constant immersion in social activity with so many different people. And the trap is that with the ability to talk to someone across the world so easily–whom we’ve never met–we can forgot to talk to the person standing right next to us, who probably means a lot more to us than that person across the world. Those are the relationships that energize us.

I don’t think social media will go away, but I do think it will eventually settle down once people realize they simply cannot maintain over-involvement. Maybe you don’t need to “go dark,” you may just need to do a little prioritizing.

My advice to you: make sure you take time for yourself. You follow more than 2,500 people on Twitter. You might reduce that to the people who actually impact your life. Go to conferences that you think are really important. Don’t tweet about places you’re going, and just sometimes do things that no one knows about. We only know about you what you tell us, so you can control how much we know about you.

If you decide to go dark, I hope it’s not for long. Your voice is useful in the community, and I for one appreciate it. I see you as a contributor to the community, and regardless of any celebrity you have I appreciate the work you do on things like WordCamp Mid-Atlantic.

Really? Just go for a walk :)

I doubt anyone on the street would know who you are. Don’t think because you’re internet famous more than a absolutely tiny slice of the world knows you. Yes you’re well known online, but IMO that isn’t really that big of a deal. You don’t have to answer every email, every Tweet and every blog post about yourself.

Imagine how actual celebrities must feel! I question how much of a celebrity *any* internet personality is outside of the internet. Even people like Kevin Rose would be generally unknown outside our little circles.