I like social media.
I completely acknowledge all of the horrible things that can and do come from it, but I think it's easy to forget all of the good things that can and do come from it. I'm a big fan of social media and the internet, and technology in general. I have a blog for crying out loud. I'm a supporter.
However, social media is a huge time suck.
I have the ability to waste more time on my phone or computer than I ever thought possible. And I truly consider most of those as "wasted" hours. I think there's a huge difference in being productive and using my social media hours to promote my blog, connect with blog readers, promote my Mary Kay business, support IU athletics (where i'm also employed), and things of that nature versus mindlessly scanning Twitter, spending 20 minutes to choose the perfect Instagram filter (after spending 20 minutes taking the perfect instagram picture), getting irritated at my personal Facebook page (people i went to high school with cause me to shake my head far too often), or obsessing over 6 second Vine videos.
All of my goals end up suffering because of the social media trap.
It's frustrating.
Monday night I ended up only getting 3 hours of sleep. Why? Because when I went to bed at 11pm I opened my phone and immediately got sucked into all of my social media apps.. for hours. That's about the time I decided I needed to reevaluate.
I'm not giving up Twitter or Instagram. I'm certainly not giving up my Vine addiction.
Let's not talk crazy.
I am going to make a conscious effort to use my time wisely. I'm not going to "unplug" in the typical way that you hear most people talk about it. I don't think spending one day a year or one day a month completely "unplugged" is that realistic and I also don't believe that it solves the long term problem. I just don't. Instead I'm going to just check my phone less throughout the day, every day. I think it's that simple.
So if I'm taking a long time to respond to your email or several hours to respond to your tweet, well, just know that in that time I'm out living my life. Maybe I'm doing an income producing activity, maybe I'm spending a few extra minutes talking with my mom. Maybe I'm watching one of my favorite tv shows and giving it my full attention. Maybe I'll be listening to Jillian kick my ass. Maybe I'm spoiling my puppy nephew. You never know what I could be doing, but the point is that I'm out doing it. Hopefully it'll give me more things to blog about.
Maybe I'll take more pictures to include to posts like these so I don't end up filling it with pointless gifs..
The other day I met a guy and he asked if I was a "big internet person". I didn't know what to say without explaining this time-suck, investment, GIF obsession as you mention above. My answer was "Eh, I can be". HA!
ReplyDeleteseriously it really does suck you in. michael tells me to just never look at my phone past 10 pm, but it's SO hard.
ReplyDeleteI can so get sucked into social media too much and it can get overwhelming. I need to step back a little too.
ReplyDeleteYou do what is good for you! I definitely find myself backing off here and there without even realizing it.
ReplyDeletei think you made the best point, you don't have to give it up forever, but just be more conscious of the amount of time you're wasting with it
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good idea. It's not realistic for most of us to completely give up these things, but I definitely need to cut back. I can get on any of these sites at any given time and spend hours when I went to check on one thing. Pinterest is the same way. I go look for a specific recipe I wanted to make and end up wasting so much time that I forget why I even got on in the first place! It's ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteBut how many hours do we spend looking for the perfect gif? Too many in my case. Also, I haven't checked vine in a looooong time.
ReplyDeleteGirl, this has been on my heart so often lately. Like I can't stop thinking about how easy it is to get sucked in to all the online goodness (or not so goodness)... So I've really been trying to draw lines at night... And that's made things better by by no means perfect. So, I'm trying to create more boundaries, to not feel as connected or attached to my phone and all the cool things that are on it because, maybe, just maybe my real life is actually cooler! :)
ReplyDeleteas much as i love my social media, i couldn't agree more! ..... as i've sat here reading blogs for the past hour. lol
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking of deleting my apps so I don't get any pop up notifications and then I could just log onto my computer but not sure if I would actually be able to do that. But good for you ;) x
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