Can someone point out where the off-switch is?

In my capacity as a Zune MVP, I always like to make myself available to anyone who needs assistance, be with their device, the software or any other aspect of the service. In doing so I’ve created a Facebook acct, Twitter acct and opened up my email to people. In fact, I tried to make myself available on practically any little nook and cranny network out there. I find myself sometimes thinking I need to have at least one of these things online because I could be missing an opportunity to assist someone.

While you may go “Aww”, I have to tell myself that it could be a very detrimental practice. How many people you know seem to spend all of their time in front of a computer screen. How silly is it that I spend 8 hours in front of a computer screen at work (practically going blind in the process) and then hurry home only to jump in front of a computer again to get into the Zune forums or on Facebook or to make sure I stay relevant in the conversations on Twitter?

Seriously, there isn’t a need for that. To that end, I’ve contemplated deactivating my Facebook account. Maybe one of the problems is that I’ve made such a large footprint on the internet (with all of these social networks that are available) that I’ve made myself feel obligated to check-in and do something with those networks.

That’s not good.

A while ago, I took major first steps: I ceased to do Foursquare, MySpace, GoodReads, Linked In and a whole host of other little networks that really wasn’t adding anything to my life. Now I take that same hard look at Facebook.

Sure, Facebook seems to be everywhere and it’s integrating itself into everything, but I’m starting to think that updating stuff is more of a chore than actual entertainment. Sometimes I sit and stare at the screen thinking that I NEED to update it with something just so I don’t fall out of people’s timeline and stop be relevant. Or maybe that’s the fundamental problem, maybe I’m not giving myself enough credit for actually being relevant even if I don’t update for 2 or 3 days.

I wrote this article over at Inside the Circle about the always-on society and how hotshot journalism is not healthy because too many people engage in the race to be first instead of engaging in the race to be correct. Maybe that’s because we have ourselves anchored to so many networks and all of it flies by so quickly that we have to ensure that we’re still relevant in all of it. We’re willing to toss anything up there just so people can click our link, read our pages or visit our site. But I digress…

Me? I’ve decided I’m going to be relevant in a few avenues. Twitter, for one. Inside the Circle, for another and this blog. I’m finding that the ways I can make an impact probably doesn’t need a large internet footprint, just key ones and I’m really wondering if Facebook is a key imprint.