2 Reasons You Should Limit Your Social Media Time
While social media is in the virtual world it can really put a damper on your physical world.
Photo Credit: Jason Howie (Creative Commons)
According to research released by Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange (OTX) Americans aged 18-64 who use social networks say they spend an average of 3.2 hours per day doing so. 3.2 HOURS PER DAY!!! I don’t know about you but that is a lot of time.
If social media is not limited it becomes a WASTE of TIME! I am guilty of this too. Just the other night I was getting ready for bed, in the bathroom brushing my teeth and there’s my phone sitting on the vanity. I thought to myself you can brush and check twitter at the same time. So it starts by me rationalizing why I am getting on social media. Then I see a blog post I want to read. I get into bed and read the blog post which then reads to another post and reading about the author, looking at their website and before I know it I’ve been on social media for 2 hours and now its midnight and I’ve just wasted my time. I could have been sleeping or doing something product around the house but now I’ve only got 4 or 5 hours until I need to wake up. I have no one to blame but myself because if you don’t limit social media it can become WHAT?…a WASTE OF TIME!
If social media is not limited it becomes a WASTE of RELATIONSHIPS! How many of you have sat down for dinner with friends or family at a resturant, you take out your phone to check Facebook or Twitter. You like your friends status look at some of their pictures. You take a pic of the everyone at dinner. Then you tweet: “at din w/ fam.” You read your twitter feed and this goes on and on and you’ve been at dinner for 10/15 minutes already and YOU HAVEN’T EVEN SAID A WORD TO THE PEOPLE YOUR WITH! If you don’t limit social media it can become a WASTE OF RELATIONSHIPS!
I challenge all of you to be honest with yourselves: Are you wasting TIME and RELATIONSHIPS because of social media? How will you limit your social media time?
Great points, Chris! I hate to think of reading blog posts as a waste of time because I’ve read some amazing content that I would have missed had I not been “browsing” the web. But, it can be a time drainer.
I don’t do much on the personal side of social media and maybe I should do more of that. I pretty much limit my energy to focusing my business. While that is more of a limitation of what I do, in a way it does limit the time spent.
I try to turn off all interaction with the outside world by 8:00 at night. That lets me focus on the most important person in my life for a while before shutting my eyes for the day.
Ree, you will appreciate that this was one of my 5 minute speeches. I do agree with you that there are many benefits to social media and I also have learned a lot. I appreciate how you have set that boundary and disconnect at 8pm.
I am becoming more and more mindful about when I can and when I shouldn’t be on social media. I just want to and want others to be mindful that they aren’t missing out on something or someone else. The old adage – there is a time and a place.
I appreciate your comment and perspective.
Chris, thanks for the wake up call. I easily get sucked into the labyrinth of social media, eBay, email.,,,,certainly my avoidance of the necessary items.
Mary, thanks for the comment. It is so easy to get sucked in. I just want to be mindful of my time.