The day started out much like any other.
I woke up, showered, got dressed, walked the dog, wolfed down my breakfast, and jumped into my car for the daily commute to Sydney.
My iPhone sat expectantly by my side on the journey in. I duly obliged it by checking my Twitter account. Then my Facebook page. Then Google+.
Once in the office, I logged on to Hootsuite to check the early morning tweets from my follow lists in Australia and further afield. Simultaneously, I went back into Facebook to update the ISOALLO fan page and opened LinkedIn to respond to an invitation to connect (then updated my profile, searched for new connections, and shared a link to my latest blog post).
A quick check of my Pinterest board and a hunt around for possible friends on Goodreads, before I finally settled down to do some ‘paid’ work. It was now 10am but I remembered I had to set up a few scheduled tweets for the remainder of the day. I also wanted to read the online newspapers and share a couple of articles with the Twitterverse when…
…damn it, I’d completely forgotten to share all of this on ISOALLO’s Google+ page, Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon, which would take at least another half hour. By now, I’d received an email with a link to the latest social media tool “well worth looking at” and “the next BIG thing”. It was suddenly midday and my boss needed a document from me urgently. I was stressed out, overwhelmed, and rapidly losing my day to what?
Overcommitment? Procrastination? Or was social media plainly taking over my life?
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| Photo credit: Emilie Ogez (Flickr Creative Commons) |
I’m not alone
The sad thing was that this day was much like any other. My use of social media had spiralled out of control.
I’m spending half of my day moving between my various social media platforms but I know I’m not alone in this. Whether we’re expats, Sydneysiders, travellers or cultural spelunkers (my personal favourite), it’s obvious we’re spending a LOT of time twittering, friending, stumbling, posturing and plus one-ing.
What’s more, with my the majority of my community spread to the four corners of the globe, it’s proving to be a challenge to manage with different timezones, varying attitudes, and diverse tastes and preferences to take into account.
Since the arrival of social media and then the birth of my blog, I’ve become hardwired to follow and to share, to like and to recommend.
My use of social media is borderline obsessive.
Why this is bad
It can be a trap.
For me, the reality about social media is that it sucks the time out of my life. I can be scanning through Facebook updates and checking Twitter lists when, the next thing I know, an hour or two has passed. Social media is engaging, entertaining, informative and entirely seductive by nature – and it is this that swallows up so much of my time. Every single day.
It’s not productive.
Without discipline and self-control, social media can be overwhelming and distracting. It’s far too easy to switch seamlessly between the different apps without stopping to determine what’s actually been achieved.
Did I get that article written? Did I brainstorm future blog post ideas? Did I send out that feature outline?
No, of course I didn’t because I’m drifting through a world of information overload with little sense of what is being achieved on this day. Worse still, my mind has been permanently set to ‘scan’ mode. I can no longer digest information and sweetly savour its message. Now I skim, scan and send out.
It stops me from doing what I love.
It’s impossible to write as often and as much when I’m flicking between Digg and Delicious. Wasting most of my morning on social media stops me from writing for an audience where my voice is actually welcome. Instead, my time is spent time putting words out into an electronic universe that at times can feel like a black hole.
So what to do?
Social media is a necessary evil in the blogging world – and in society at large to some extent.
We need it to connect, to share, to build an audience and to engage. However, it’s a largely unreal world. I don’t see people face-to-face and conversation is limited to 140 letters. It can be a frustrating, often intimidating environment – and one without obvious reward.
But it’s not all bad.
I appreciate and enjoy my time online catching up with old friends and new acquaintances. I’ve had the privilege of meeting interesting people and the pleasure of discovering fascinating material. Social media plays an important role in its own distinct way. It’s a means of being entertained and educated but, like anything, it should be enjoyed in moderation.
And this goes to the heart of my own social media use.
It’s unhealthy for any one thing to take up so much of my time. If it’s all about social media all of the time, it can quickly become a chore, not a pleasure.
Like anything, it’s about balance and it’s about being clever with my time.
How much time do you spend on social media? Do you think it’s too much?
PS. Try this handy on-screen tool, recommended by The Write Practice, as a way to manage the time you spend on social media. Or, indeed, on anything.
Social media is a fantastic tool for interaction, but can also be a nice little time-waster if you let it!
I hear you Russell, good article. As we build, maintain and enhance our ‘platforms’ (for various professional and personal reasons), social media can be a terrific source of information and connection. The interaction is different on various social media venues, which can be a very good thing. It can also be a major time suck. The key is moderation, not only in the amount of time and effort put into it but also how many tools we choose to use and which ones. I share many of the ones you mention, but have been deliberate in selecting them and vigilant in not adding others. I don’t claim to be a ‘jack of all trades’ of any of them, but I feel comfortable that I get a positive return on the ones I do use, and don’t wish to become a ‘master of none’ by adding more.
So for me it’s FB, LinkedIn, Twitter and to a lesser extent, Google+. I check Klout every few days but don’t obsess; I haven’t done much with Pinterest but love the visual aspect of it so am slowly dipping in a toe. Most days I probably spend 45 minutes total, including catching up with other blogs. I’m constantly getting ideas that inform my writing or learning new things that might take a little time upfront (e.g., lately learning to use Scrivener for my manuscript, learning some meditation/mindfulness techniques, listening to a useful writing or publishing business-related webcast) but are helpful in the longer term. Add in blog maintenance and writing-related email, it’s another 20 minutes.
What I’ve tried to live by are simple rules: 1) real life interacting with real people takes precedence, no collapsing into a cyber world; 2) that said, writing is my vocation so it comes first during my day, everything else in my schedule fits in around the actual time spent planning, fleshing out and writing various projects; 3) no playing games online EVER, no continual checking social media or getting lost wandering around; 4) I try to fit in daily reading of books (for projects or pleasure) by keeping my Kindle handy and using those 15-30 minute chunks of time that pop up here and there; I also read while using my recumbent execise bike 😉 and finally 5) I plan weekly and review monthly: if I am making decent progress on different projects and goals I’ve set for myself, I’m good. Otherwise I tweak.
And you can see by my long answer that I’ve given social media use a lot of thought. Gotta be vigilant!
Yep, I love the interaction but, along the way, I’ve forgotten how to interact with the people around me in my physical space. Time to go back to the drawing board 🙂
How have you found ways to manage it, Liv?
I find myself “scanning” articles in a rush to read more during a break, something I never used to do the smart phone landed by my side!!
Absolutely true, Russell! Though I must say I landed here today only because I was doing exactly the same you describe above:-) You have to be unbelievably disciplined to keep it all turned off and only check at certain times and then have a clear agenda and time frame. Much like you have to be disciplined about junk food. Junk media, as it were, no? Often, checking my stats or going on Facebook feels like a little “treat” I deserve for having written a new blog post or sorted all my pictures, but in reality the little treat often expands to a half a day of doing nothing.
I am now going back to figuring out what to do for the rest of the day. Thanks for the wake-up call.
Me too. Problem is when I’m on the PC or even reading a newspaper in hardcopy I now tend to do the same. My brain is programmed to skim through whatever I’m reading.
What about using things like Facebook? Do you use them too much or just right?
I think we’re coming back to the smartphone issue – it’s all too easy to keep checking in! 😉
If social media brought you here today, Sine, I can’t complain!
I recently read advice similar to that which you mention regarding the need for discipline when using social media. It was suggested that you set yourself a timeframe, put on the timer, and stick to the agenda. Another tip I’ve started to follow is to switch everything else off and do one thing at a time. I think I’m a decent multi-tasker but I’m actually pretty bad at it so I try to keep focused on the one thing (well, that’s the plan from here on in!).
Thanks for your comment 🙂
Russell, I don’t know how you find the time to get any real work done! I’m utterly dominated by what I call my ‘morning admin’. I’ve become a slave to it, checking this, checking that, reading and writing emails, responding to comments. I’ve abandoned the wicked world of the waged and jumped onto a blogging and writing treadmill instead. Is my new career worth it? You bet it is.
Totally agree…finally got good balance with it all until husband was offered job in NZ and now I’m back at it again, networking, finding out information etc.. My waistline has also started increasing, not good. 🙂
Hey Russell, I just wrote about this same issue in a post about why I quit Pinterest. Basically I want to live my life, not just look at it.
I think it’s like anything, we have to practise moderation. I don’t bother with Google Plus, Pinterest and limit the ‘next big thing’ to just doing what I’ve been doing, which is my travel writing and my blog.
I think underneath all of this obsessing to be super-cyber-connected and on top of things, is fear; fear that we’re missing out or not keeping up or, or, or…
But when we spend our real life time with people we love and doing real work that matters (whether it’s writing or paid employment or baking bread) that fear is replaced by connection and love.
Love trumps fear every time and is wonderful at creating perspective.
Thanks for such a thoughtful post.
Thanks for this really thoughtful post, Adventures. I am a traveller / blogger and am also writing a book but finding it very hard to balance all of this, along with just being ‘present’, living my adventures and just getting daily tasks done. I travelled to India without a laptop, thinking that I needed to “disconnect in order to connect” but didn’t last long without it and had one promptly sent out to me. Still – one netbook is better than a laptop, an iphone, an ipad2 AND a blackberry, which is what I had in the media whore days before I gave it up to come away! Too much screen real estate = too much temptation!
As I continue on my spiritual journey in the East I realise that balance is the key to everything, really. So, thank you for those practical tips that you include. I think that I particularly need to heed the ‘continual checking of social media’ and ‘getting lost’ advice. I also think that I could be more savvy in my use of aggregation tools – working smarter not harder with the bewildering array of social media in this multi platform world.
I’m interested in the meditation / mindfulness techniques that you describe, so if you could pass anything on that you find useful I would be grateful. And finally… not that I want to add any MORE links into the mix but if you’re interested in spirituality in general then you might be interested in my blog that, amongst other things, documents my journey of growth in India: http://sophiesnotinkansas.blogspot.com
I’ve started doing things in batches. When each tool was new and shiny, I’d check it every 5 seconds. Any new Tweets? Shares? FB fans? Now I’ve realized the world won’t end if I leave StumbleUpon alone for 2 days and do a bunch of liking at once. It’s still hard though, especially since it’s all so tied to interaction and traffic which makes it tempting to always try to do more!
Let me see…during the week I have a 15-20 bus ride and then 35mins on the train each way to work so mine is done during my commute (which is why I get annoyed when blogs don’t fit nicely on my mobile screen :-0). But usually I’m done and dusted (including checking my personal emails) in about 20mins depending on the day so the train portion of my journey allows me to read. I have a Twitter account which we are trialling for work but apart from that, I don’t check any of my personal SM channels at work.
So when I get to the weekend, it’s really nice to catch up, surf a bit, see what’s going on and message ‘directly’ all through the day (partic. with those in Australia). I always have a list of must dos each weekend. Sometimes I catch up with friends, shop, see a movie, get out and see more of Finchley…but I always leave enough time to write a blog post. If a weekend goes by without this, the urge to ‘purge’ so to speak gets overwhelming and I feel ratty and annoyed.
Has it taken over? Maybe – but I do limit the number of things I sign up to; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blog, Pinterest, WeekendNotes so far. I’ve said yes to Google + and Good Reads invitations but don’t know that I’m really up for any more.
Great food for thought though – even if it did make me stop and audit my social media self!
I can SO relate to this – I often lose hours and I don’t feel like its been productive work even though networking can be good for business 🙂 I sweat when I don’t have an Internet account… What’s the world coming to!!!
I’m starting to get the sense this is a common issue for us all. It’s tricky to find that balance between networking, pulling people in and growing your platform… versus pure and simple timewasting with no real gain. I guess you have to rely on gut instinct to some extent.
That’s the problem with me too. I find it too tempting to log on for just a few minutes with the thought that I’m making a difference somehow to my blog.
I need to practice your way of doing thing… in batches. Might make a difference 😉
But you see that sounds like a ‘good’ use of social media… I think. Use it and abuse it for your information needs – just think of what you can find out which would have taken hours before. Problem is my girth is on the increase too. My wife has a good excuse given our recent news. I can only blame excess time spent on Twitter 🙁
I know Jack, I know. It’s got that bad that I don’t want to do any of this real work because it’s so bloody boring by comparison!
I’m like you. My ‘morning admin’ takes precedence every day. Until it’s done, I’m good for nothing.
I have to say I love the sound of your new career. So much fun and careless abandon. And forget what Liam or Sarah might tell you/me, it is REAL work. I just doesn’t pay right now. Well, not here anyway 😉
Hey Colleen, thanks for your comment. Interesting that you quit Pinterest. I’ve heard of a few other people who’ve done the same. I like it but it’s a massive time-waster for me. And, at the moment, it doesn’t drive a whole heap of traffic to this blog or elsewhere. I might also take a time-out for a while.
You’re dead right though. I believe the current social media phenomenon is all about not wanting to miss out or fall behind. Let’s blame Facebook for that. I think it’s where it all started and we’ve become trained to check in regularly rather than ignore what’s happening online and get on with the ‘real’ world.
My wife has discovered a new-found talent for pointing out how much time I spend glued to my iPhone in the evenings and at weekends. When I hit the 15 minute-mark, she pipes up. It’s like having my own personal, portable time-wasting monitor. I’d recommend investing in something similar 🙂
I miss using public transport to get to work. I used to spend an hour travelling each way into/out of Sydney and could get a lot of this kind of busines taken care of. Now I’m in a car and it’s what I call ‘dead time’.
Great to read your self-audit though. I’ve not heard of WeekendNotes – any good?
I might start moving more of my social media use to the weekend but will still need to limit it. I tend to do most things in the week and then ‘switch off’ at the weekend so it’s interesting to see you do the opposite. Then again, my day job seems to (inadvertently) allow me the ‘week’ option where as yours maybe doesn’t by the sound of things.
I also feel annoyed when I don’t post by a particular day. I usually aim for midweek but realistically get one out by Friday. If it rolls over into the weekend, I start to slowly lose the plot… Anyway, appreciate you sharing your social media addictions and activity here 🙂
Thanks, Linda. Great comment.
I missed out on Klout in my post. Yes, another one I use. So moderation is obviously the key to your social media use. That, and choosing the key tools to work with (focus on 3 or 4 of your favourites and don’t bsess over the others). Good advice.
I also take away the fact that it’s vital to maintain physical relationships and connections, and also fit in daily reading of books. This last one is an area I need to spend more time on. It’s too easy to blog and write and tweet all day, collapse in front of the TV at night, then sleep. I’m adding that to my list of to do’s.
It’s no bad thing that you’ve given this area a lot of thought. It can easily spiral out of control (leading to excellent material for more blog posts)… Thanks again.
Thanks, Sophie. Enjoyed hearing about your own story and reading some recent posts on your blog. A fascinating journey from the ‘media whore’ days (love the description) to where you are now, both physically and spiritually.
I also plan to follow some of Linda’s tips, especially the ‘getting lost’ part which I frequently find myself doing (one link leads to another suggestion then another tweet and so on). Tools like Hootsuite are great for building ‘lists’ and separating out the useful content from the general noise but… they can also present too much information in one place so, again, need to be treated ‘with care’.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Yup – once again I agree on all points and you put into words what I have been wondering for a long time…I’m in a “scan”-mode and there is truly an information overload as I try and keep up with info coming in from all sides. But here is what I have committed myself to: Every Sunday afternoon I “slow down” and really concentrate on reading (slowly) an actual newspaper and (old-fashioned) books. No e-paper or e-book etc. for me Sundays.
I love that approach to Sundays, Peteriina. A ‘slow down’ Sunday.
I had tried to commit to switching social media off at the weekend but it hasn’t been working and has crept back in beccause of the ease of accessing everything through my phone. I think I now need to switch the actual phone off!
Thank you for your kind words, Sophie. I did indeed check out your blog, what an interesting journey you are on right now! Surely with your extended time spent in India and Nepal, I’ve no doubt that you are much deeper and further along in your meditating than me. Mine isn’t a spiritual form of meditation, it’s for relaxation only.
I try to meditate twice daily but only for 5 minutes each time. I swear by deep and slowed breathing to relax, and then try to clear my mind of all thought, not just the noise.(Easier said than done as I tend to slip into solving current challenges in my head!) Every now and then if I really need to relax, I might try the standard relaxation technique of lying down, concentrating on relaxing right foot, then left foot, right leg, left leg all the way up the body. A friend shared that at the end, when you are in a very relaxed state and getting ready to come back to the real world, try thinking of the color light blue, then see it as the sky, then the sky over your head while lying on a beach (or in a meadow or on a mountainside, whatever is relaxing and positive for you). It tends to make you feel happy.
I also have started tapping (with your fingertips on certain pressure points on your head, upper body and hands). You basically acknowledge whatever issue/emotion is bothering you and then speak positively to yourself about dispensing with or dealing with it. It sounded corny but I was intrigued that such a focused businessman like Jack Canfield (of the Chicken Soup of the Soul series, etc.) was doing it that I watched a video he did. Nick Ortner is another person doing tapping, in a recent Tapping World Summit. I’ve found that I don’t even necessarily need to work my way through an issue verbally: if I’m just sitting in traffic or at my desk writing, I’ll start tapping without focusing on a particular issue. Just tapping seems to relax me. You can check out YouTube for short videos on the tapping concept and how to do it.
Sometimes I use visualization, basically ‘seeing’ what I would like to achieve or have be the end state, and how I will reach that.
As for mindfulness, I’m just trying to be as present in the moment and focused as I can be, rather than distracted and my mind wandering, or not paying attention to enjoying each moment. I’ve been doing a fair amount of research into emotional resilience, emotional and social intelligence, positive psychology (originally referred to as optimism) and the brain-body connection, and many include references to mindfulness and relaxation. Positive psychology and happiness literature are big on ‘intentionalization’, essentially seeing the end state rather than the specific goals (e.g., I want to respect my body and care for it to keep it as healthy as possible rather than I want to lose 10 pounds or cut back on fats/sugar/caffeine, etc.). Focusing on intentions is trying to rewire your brain, and your actions are supposed to fall in line, while focusing on goals is trying to instill habits in your body. Quite frankly, I need both!
In the end, I find that relaxation, meditation, visualization, intentionalization, tapping, mindfulness and exercise are all mutually reinforcing.
Hope some of this helps.
Thanks for this, Linda. How do you ever get time for social media use with all this on your plate too? 😉
Great advice. Cheers.
Well put, Russell. Lately I’ve been trying as much as possible to set a writing schedule and stick to it. I try to work on my writing projects first thing in the morning and then save email, social media and other things on my to do list for after that time, or in pockets of time I find here and there. Some days it falls apart and I don’t get any writing done, but when I stick to the schedule, I’m always pleased with what I accomplish.
This is a timely topic, thanks for bringing it up!
Thanks, Heather. Like you, I’m probably more productive and creative in the morning. When I do leave writing projects to the afternoon, it’s more of a slog to get the words out so replacing it with social media at this time of day wouldn’t be a bad experiment.
What about at weekends? Does the writing/social media schedule then change?
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Ahh, weekends. I would love to work/write on the weekends but with a one and almost three-year-old, my weekends are spent with them. My husband and I give each other breaks, but then it’s usually to fit in a quick workout or grab groceries, etc. I’ve been trying for a while now to fit in an hour’s writing time on Saturdays. I’ll check back with you in the fall and let you know how that’s going!
Keep me posted on your experiment with trying to write in the morning!
Another great post Russell! I’m relatively new to social media and blogging and find that the few tools I do use take up A LOT of my time. So much so that I catch myself eyeing my computer or iPhone when I should be more engaged with my family. Like you said, social media is a wonderful thing – the sharing and connecting, lifting borders and increasing understanding – but it gets tricky. A healthy balance is certainly necessary and finding that can be difficult…
I have this all to look forward to 🙂 Better get my schedule down pat soon then. Let me know how it all goes and I’ll do the same!
Thanks for your comment, Catherine. It’s funny but I’ll say to myself that I should only spend an hour on 3-4 different tools but it always ends up using more of my time than planned. I’m probably getting distracted but still…
I’m hoping that, over time, habits amongst social media users change to accomodate ‘real life’ and we all start to make better use of our time – at the moment, it feels a little like we have to be ‘online’ all of the time so we don’t miss out. Watch this space 🙂
I have refused to sign up for anything new. For me it is becoming way too much. I would delete fb but so many people are on it and living abroad it is much easier and quicker to send a private message and have someone respond as opposed to an email.
It definitely has its advantages when living abroad but you’re totally right… it’s about balance. I also find people are more accessible on Facebook than by email these days. At least the younger members of my wider family are.
Sooo true. I keep telling myself that it’s going to slow down, as we’re pretty new and just building on social media, and just starting to connect with some very cool people. 🙂
For me, the solution has been old fashioned time management. I give myself half an hour a day for social media.The problem I have is that there are so many amazing, interesting travel blogs out there, like yours. I could honestly just spend all day reading other people’s articles, instead of writing my own. 🙂
Hey guys, thanks for the awesome comment and great to see you over here.
I recently read somewhere that you have to give up trying to read all the great content out there because there’s too much and you’ll never get through it all. The article said to try to concentrate on a handful of good sites and don’t stress about the others. I therefore hope mine makes it onto your top list of reading material 😉
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