Are Twitter & Facebook taking over your life?
“Remember, every time you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else.”
What are you saying yes to? Think about it, every time you say yes to something it means you are saying no to something else. What are you saying no to? Are you tweeting when you are having a special dinner with your kid? Are you surfing the Web when you could be exercising? Are you playing on Facebook when you could be working? Scott Stratten (who is kind of a big deal on Twitter) from UnMarketing writes about his awakening to what’s important in life (hint: it’s not always Twitter). Click here and scroll down to read “Being a Big Deal on Twitter is not as Big as you think“.
If I’m not careful I sometimes end up spending my whole day on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites. This is not really productive. It’s fun, but not productive. I believe for a business to run a good social networking campaign they can do it in under 15 minutes a day.
Are you an Online Addict?
People can become addicted to forums, chat rooms, emails, IM, online networking and volunteering. These people do not know when to say no. They think they have to do this to build their business. They feel guilty being away from their computer or afraid they might miss something, so they keep volunteering, chatting, posting – hoping it will turn into business. What it actually turns into is time being eaten away, no billable hours to show, resentful families, and quite possibly a feeling of isolation. We’re not saying making use of online networking and resources is bad, but there have to be limits… if someone is spending 8 or more hours a day doing this and seeing no income or getting behind on client work, feeling overworked and stressed and knows his or her family is resentful, that person may have a problem. –Managing Your Thriving Business For Success
In an online chat awhile back, the topic of balancing work and family came up. Someone said since she started working from home her house was messier, meals were not getting cooked, and she was spending less time with her family because she was always on the computer. She felt she has to do this to build her business. She said when she worked full time, in the corporate world, all that home stuff was getting done. Several other people commented they too were experiencing similar situations. This happens because we get lax on our routines when we start working from home. When we work outside of the home, we know “at home” time is limited, so we do what needs doing now,instead of thinking, “Oh, I can do that later.”
An idea to bring balance back into your life is to set up some routines which I will discuss in the next post.
Finding that balance is tough. I constantly have to keep myself in check and not spend TOO much time on Twitter & Facebook. But I have to admit I have become one of those iPhone nuts. 🙂 I like to think I’ve put it to good use though, because I frequently arrive early to pick my kids up from school and will sit and type out the blog post and post it all on my iPhone. I’ll check in on Twitter and Facebook while I wait for them to get out.
I feel that bit of technology has allowed me to juggle even more and still be the mom I want to be. 🙂
Katie,
I agree technology can actually help us be more productive so we have more time to spend with those we love. I do the same thing, if I arrive early to volley ball practice or some other event where I’m waiting I will use my iPhone to check my Twitter, Facebook and email. It’s the part where I might be doing that while hanging with my kids or others that I worry about.
Some days I will look around and see my whole family either attached to an iPhone or their computer and I just want to shout hey let’s all hang out for a bit.