A little over halfway through, I’m feeling pretty blah about this exercise. It’s a success in the sense that I haven’t been on any of the sites I used to spend time on for the past four days, but I can’t say I’ve gotten much extra work done in the meantime. The main goal, though, is not to get more done during this week, but to strengthen my self-discipline in the future. A worthwhile goal, that, but hard to measure.

Quitting social media for a week has left me feeling disconnected and out of the loop. I’m completely cut off from my internet friends and people-I-follow, and I miss the casual chit-chat with my real-life friends, even the ones I see regularly in person.

Facebook and Twitter, for me at least, are all about being brief, witty, and shallow, and instead I find myself here on my blog, writing long, boring sentences analyzing the meaning of social media in my life. Gross.

If I do something like this again, I’m going to make it more like “only check Facebook once a day for a week.” It’s not actually interacting with people online that’s a waste of time, it’s keeping the site open and flipping over to check on it every time a new post appears.

Anyway, here are some of the things I considered posting to Facebook or Twitter today:

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I came to school today because I thought the low-distraction environment would help me focus on studying for my exams.

I’m in the journal office right now. It’s the best place I’ve found to study, at least when it’s not too busy, because it has lots of semi-enclosed workspaces with big desks. And, unlike in the library, I can eat in here.

Today there are three people in the office besides me. Two are studying quietly at a table together. The third is bravely attempting to induce carpal tunnel syndrome by playing a computer game that involves incessant high-speed clicking.

I’m pretty sure wrist injuries won’t get you out of taking your exams. Why are you here, clicky-person? Over the last forty-five minutes, not thirty seconds have gone by without a barrage of clickclickclickclickclick. Can’t you clickclick at home?

What’s that, voice of reason? Ask clicky-person to stop? You mean, like, go over there and say it out loud? No, that’s crazy. I will put in my taiko earplugs and fume on the internet instead.

I know, how typical. A blog post complaining about the phone company. It’s probably near the top of the list of overused blog topics, right after “What I Had for Lunch Today” and “Hilarious Pictures of Mr. Shnookums Sleeping.”

But this one’s a doozy. Starting about three weeks ago, my phone started to get crackly. When I called John while walking my dog, sometimes the signal would break up so badly that he couldn’t understand me at all. If we hung up and tried again, sometimes it got better, sometimes not. Sometimes my phone wouldn’t ring at all—calls would go straight to voicemail—even though it was on and showed five bars.

At first I thought my phone was breaking down, especially since John was able to call other people with no problems. I called T-Mobile twice but couldn’t get them to take it in for repairs for various uninteresting reasons.

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The front page article on CNN.com right now is that Mitt Romney is, according to the latest polls, the leading Republican presidential candidate for 2012. Front. Page.

No, okay? Just no.

We get a break. Even in a state the candidates largely ignore, I’m still sick of campaign coverage. If I had my druthers, anyone who actively campaigned for or reported on a presidential election more than six months before Election Day would be tarred and feathered. I know this wild dream of mine is inconceivable these days, but can’t we at least get two years off? A year? A one-year moratorium on election fuss is hardly too grand a request.

Pretty please?