{"id":27803,"date":"2020-12-08T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=27803"},"modified":"2020-12-08T06:00:12","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T12:00:12","slug":"wgns-paul-konrad-suspends-social-media-healthy-personal-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2020\/12\/08\/wgns-paul-konrad-suspends-social-media-healthy-personal-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"WGN's Paul Konrad suspends social media as \u2018healthy personal decision\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Paul Konrad<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s been more than two weeks since Paul Konrad surprised fans by announcing he was \u201ctaking the rest of the year off of social media.\u201d No Facebook. No Twitter. No Instagram. No Snark.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI have been growing in my conviction that social media is taking me away from things that are really important to me. It distracts me and doesn\u2019t help me be my best,\u201d Konrad declared in his final post<\/a> of the year on November 22. \u201cSee you in 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nine-time Emmy Award-winning weather anchor on WGN-Channel 9\u2019s<\/a> top-rated morning show said he never discussed his decision with bosses of the Nexstar Media Group station. \u201cI think highly of them and appreciate that they consistently want my best,\u201d Konrad told me Monday. \u201cIt is my sense that they see it is a healthy personal decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Paul Konrad Facebook post<\/p><\/div>\n

Support for his move has been nearly unanimous \u2014 though it\u2019s not clear whether Konrad is fully aware of the reaction since he stopped checking his accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been surprised by the attention <\/a>my decision has brought on,\u201d he acknowledged. \u201cThat in and of itself says a lot about how much power social media has in our lives and culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am glad for the break and feel badly for the younger people in our industry who feel enslaved to grow their social media platforms. It\u2019s a desperate endeavor with minimal and unhealthy returns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Konrad, 55, a Naperville native who joined WGN in 1996, boasts 92,540 followers on Facebook and 38,700 on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all honesty, I just don\u2019t like the power that it was having over me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where you never feel like you are doing enough, or reading enough or staying on top of it enough. And the bottom line is, it was taking me away from the things that matter to me. Primarily quality, engaging, family time.\u201d<\/p>\n

After recently watching the documentary \u201cThe Social Dilemma,\u201d <\/a>Konrad said: \u201cIt confirmed a lot of my thoughts around the power of social media and I don\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have four kids and I can see how much power the phone can have over them. The same is true about me. My 16-year-old daughter said: \u2018I can spend 45 minutes flipping through all my social media and at the end of those 45 minutes, I feel empty, worse and I have nothing to show for that time that makes me better, healthier or happier.\u2019\u00a0And she is right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked if she wanted to take a break from it together. She said yes! It\u2019s been great.\"<\/p>\n

Monday's comment of the day:<\/a> Phil Melcher:<\/strong> Just when I think I know my Chicago radio from Abby Polonsky to Z95 along comes John Drury's High School Radio Award-winning radio station WLTL. Congratulations to the team for winning best radio station of the year.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been more than two weeks since Paul Konrad surprised fans by announcing he was \u201ctaking the rest of the year off of social media.\u201d No Facebook. No Twitter. No Instagram. No Snark. \u201cI have been growing in my conviction that social media is taking me away from things that are really important to me.... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27803"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27812,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27803\/revisions\/27812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}