Sometime this week, I will be leaving a number of social media sites for two months.

My accounts will all remain open, however I am allowing a close friend to change all of my passwords temporarily so that I am unable to use them. I will not be available through Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare, or my key social network Twitter until July 1st.

My reasoning for this addresses my need to fully escape some personal and social aspects of the past year. Social media has not assisted in this goal thus far, and so I have no choice but to detatch myself from an online social circle I’ve been active in for two and a half years. This means meeting new people offline (a skill I am not particularly confident in at all) and engaging in other activities I need and desire to complete.

The Brisbane Twitter social group BTUB has been the love of my life since August 2008. I’ve only ever missed a few events due to sickness or uni assessment, and I don’t have any plans to stop going. I will be at this Friday’s May gathering, and if I don’t have an exam the day after June’s meet, I’ll be there too. If you’re in Brisbane and have a Twitter account, you are welcome to join us all for a drink at Greystone Bar in South Bank.

This plan is nothing personal against any friends I have met at BTUB. I love everyone so very much and don’t wish to lose them. I still very, very much wish to continue these friendships but cutting online contact is something I must do. I am afraid that I will be left out of many social gatherings for the duration of my scarce online presence, but humans have been speaking to each other without Internet connections for gazillions of years; surely I can handle it.

This semester at uni thus far has sucked quite tremendously. My study habits need improving, as I constantly avoid difficult and stressing tasks and the Internet is a very welcome distraction. I need to be brave for a bit in order to lift my grades (which are KILLER when I am not stressing out), and having been in financial stress for a number of years, I’m over that and will be working hard to find some cash so that I may function.

And I am wanting to focus on many other offline activities.

• I have been drumming in a band for a little while now and I want to improve my skills there. (If anyone wants to jam, hit me up!)
• I also took up ukulele a month or so ago, plus my bass guitar is still sitting in the corner after years waiting for this n00b to pick it up.
• The gym needs me to kick my own butt.
• There is one knitted glove that needs a partner.
• I want to learn Italian and continue my driving lessons.
• I have never read Catch 22, 1984, The Happiness Trap, Lolita, A Clockwork Orange or many other classics. I want to catch up on Jeffery Archer’s greats and The Dice Man again. Bukowski, Poe and The Desiderata of Happiness.
• I want to visit my sister and friends in Sydney during the mid-year break in June (but no, Monje, I won’t be moving there!)
• I also need sufficient work to make enough money to live.
• And my handwriting is appalling!

But what am I really expecting to happen? I will probably have no idea what’s happening in the news, and I bet half of the sites I am quitting will be completely new ones by July. I will get frustrated for a few weeks and maybe not be so diligent in my quest to quit smoking. Hell, I might even get my haircut at last!

So to recap, I will not be available through Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare, or Twitter for two months. These accounts will remain open so I may easily return in July and so that my contact details will still be available on my Facebook profile. YouTube and my blogging pages, save for Tumblr, will be kept open, mainly for uni work and writing about how I’m going with the tech detox. It seems that a few people are actually interested in this plan of mine.

Today or tomorrow I will arrange with my contact to change my passwords and I will post when I know when exactly it will be. Hopefully I won’t miss any telephone numbers or emails that come through Facebook or Twitter.

But don’t be a stranger! My mobile number is on my Facebook profile (hence not closing my account) and my email address is me @ nicolejensen dot com – the contact form goes to me there. As a passionate host, I will definitely email and text around when I want to host Beatnik Party 2.0 and I’m always happy to catch up down at the pub when you’re in town.

Pip, pip.

From Faster Louder yesterday:

Late last year, FasterLouder’s parent company Sound Alliance ran an online survey to find out your take on a range of topics. 5,000 respondents aged between 18-30 years old from Sound Alliance websites responded, making it the most comprehensive survey of its kind in Australia.

Well, the results are in, and they have some telling answers about that ‘fatigue’ question. While some punters are tiring of festivals, the good news is that the festival industry still has plenty of life in it yet.

“About a third of respondents agreed that they enjoy festivals less than they used to, which is natural as early adopters move on and get that bit older,” says Sound Alliance Managing Director Neil Ackland. “But the vast majority, 76%, disagreed with that statement.”

“When a festival like Big Day Out sells 200,000+ tickets a year, it’s hardly underground anymore, and this is reflected in the survey results where 74% agreed that festivals have become very mainstream, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“Whilst the festival scene has most definitely tipped, prices of tickets are still seen by most, to represent good value for money,” says Ackland. “Just 15% thought otherwise.” Big Day Out in particular fared well with 71% stating that they intended to buy a ticket next year.

So the industry is still going strong despite “about a third” of survey participants stating less enjoyment at festivals than previously. Almost three quarters are still very much enjoying festivals, although they acknowledge festivals becoming “very mainstream.”

A comment from Faster Louder user, ThatDude123, on the Sound Alliance survey, caught my eye:

Were any questions asked about overcrowding on the festival market? When I filled it out I don’t remember any, and that seems to be the big issue when I talk to people. It isn’t that festivals are better/worse (in fact I personally find them to be better due to our strong dollar bringing in top acts and better understanding of the logistics involved), it’s just that you can only take so much time off work and spend so much money before you are eventually fired/broke.

Really the biggest success story of the festival season so far, I’d say, is the Laneway Festival. In less than five years it’s sold out two major markets and brought a crowd who usually find festivals “disgusting” and “mainstream” back to festivals.

As opposed, Big Day Out promoter Ken West said to Faster Louder last year that the festival has had numerous reasons and opportunities to skip a year. Glastonbury is taking 2012 off according to Faster Louder in the same article.

Last year, Katherine Feeney of The Brisbane Times wrote about the sheer quantity of festivals in Australia and reasons why the public might be sick of them. The comments confirm the idea that festivals are no longer about music, but an overcrowded, wasteful experience of drug taking (me thinks I’ll address the extortionate drink prices at festivals another day), ridiculous sunglasses and fluoro t-shirts.

In the article, Jan Skubiszewski of Melbourne band Jackson Jackson states his view that festivals are “mass populated” and that niche events are starting to emerge, much to the preference of musicians and other creative types looking for differing, improved gig experiences.

However, the more these niche events come up, the more I see of these mini-festivals fail. There was BAM! Festival and Lost Weekend at the same Queensland venue last year, and Blueprint which lost $500,000 in Victoria, late 2009. Trailer Trash, as mentioned by Skubiszewski, has turned to the Woodford festivals calendar to run its programme, opting to cater to a captive audience inside the Planting, Woodford Folk and other festivals held at the venue.

Another result is the constant barging of club events at bars. Is there now just too much of the same stuff happening, that punters are too busy with pubs and clubs to fork out for festivals? Gossip, 299 or whatever the heck that place is, constantly finds a way to invite me via Facebook to every event at the venue. Rosie’s Tavern is another in Brisbane that does a similar job. I don’t even like DJs or care for any of the unknown bands they promote.

I would definitely like to do more exploration as to the reasons of Australian mini-festival success rates in comparison to larger events. What are your experiences at larger versus smaller festivals?

In August I went to a fantastic conference for festival organisers by Folk Alliance Australia, called Ausfolk. Unfortunately I got busy with uni and didn’t write about it, which is a major mistake on my part, but it was the best damned conference I’ve ever attended. (I do have notes from it, so I should do that soon, because it’s better than never.)

At this event I met many awesome people in the industry I am working towards, and the very first person I met, at the train station, was Pedro Plowman. He drove the transfers van, you see.

Anyway, even before we get into the van for Woodfordia, he tells me about this app he’s working on for festivals. “Awesome!” I’m thinking, “mobile technology and events! The best!” He says he wants to have it ready in time for Woodford.

Months down the track and he requests my details so I can test the program for him. I’ve had the app on my iPhone for a few days and I love the capabilities. All artists, shows, ceremonies, discussions, workshops, etc that are on at this year’s Woodford Folk Festival are categorised, listed and described in the app. All you need to do is check off the shows or programs you don’t want to miss and your schedule is made for you! Brilliant!

There’s also a festival grounds map and vital contact numbers (poisons line, taxis, admin, security, RACQ) in case of emergency at the festival.

myFestivals App just came into the Apple Store last night, and I’m proud to say that I can’t wait to use it at Woodford Folk Festival (while I’m volunteering as a venue manager! Yay!)  in a few days.

You can nab it from the Apple store for free here.