In one week’s time I will be slurping Spanish wines and tuning in to the traditional sounds of Fado while traveling through Portugal and southern Spain on vacation. I will also be completely unplugged from news sources and constant updates from social media bugs posting on Twitter and Facebook. I don’t even plan to check my e-mail. My laptop and cell phone are staying at home and I will be media free for at least a few days. And as much as I am looking forward to experiencing another culture, landscape, and setting, the idea of consuming less mind-garbling information is what turns me on the most about my mid-spring getaway.

My temporary attempt at living with less connectivity is not spontaneous. For several months I’ve been pondering the “slow-media” movement. I first heard about this movement while listening to the radio on a lazy Saturday when a NPR marketplace segment featured a new adopter of the movement, New York journalism professor Jenny Rauch. Over the airwaves Rauch proclaimed she would eliminate digital media from her life by turning the clock back to 1985. So no e-mails, no texting, no DVR. A land-line, television, and a handful of records would inhabit her new digital free life. Sounds like bliss, right? Imagine the freedom of not feeling obliged to reach out and respond to every message, Twitter feed, or friend request. It’s this sense of unbridled abandon I’m seeking while overseas.

But if you are one who likes the taste of digital Kool-Aid connectivity and think this movement is lacking a fan base, it must be noted that the slow movement is gaining some steam in the business world as it stretches past the realm of personal liberation. In fact, it’s latest incarnation exists in the realm of journalism where it’s referred to as the “slow-word” movement. A Forbes article published at the cusp of 2010 suggests that journalism should take a hint and follow suite reaching out to consumers with less frequent installments of quality work. McSweeney’s has pulled together an excellent example of the ideal “slow-word” publication in it’s “San Francisco Panorama“.

As 2010 marches on it will be interesting to see how this new social attitude and movement not only impacts the world of journalism but also the consumer marketplace. Though the year is new, I’ve already heard many personal accounts of “information fatigue”, best described as an inability to locate or analyze accurate information thanks to the barrage of uncredited sources taking up road space on the internet superhighway. The new popularity of social media has also caused some consumers to question how to balance their virtual world responsibilities with real-world activities. Only time will tell how the marketplace and consumers will adapt to the hyper-connectivity of today’s media world. As for me, I’m going to unplug and take things slow for awhile. Signing off (for now).