Do you spend so much time hanging out on Facebook and Pinterest that you don’t finish your to-do list?
Whether you are at work or at home, social media can be a Siren song that pulls you away from the things that you should be doing. Everyone has done it. You are sitting there, typing out an email when all of a sudden you decide to take just a second to check on your friends on Facebook.
Three hours later you have chatted with your best friend from fourth grade, argued about the presidential race with someone you hardly know, and pinned 34 images to Pinterest. What happened?
Chatting with friends has always been a large part of women’s lives. In the past, there were quilting bees, coffee klatches, and bridge games – now we have Facebook. The problem is that those other things were scheduled to happen at a certain time and a certain place and the Internet is always available.
In fact, it can become addictive.
Breaking that addiction so that you can bring your life back into balance is hard but not impossible. If you are spending too much time on the computer, try these tips.
- Schedule a certain time to be on Facebook and stick with it. If you want to check in with friends at lunch do so – but give yourself a limited amount of time and stick to it.
- Don’t keep your social media windows open. Log out when you are supposed to be working.
- If you are at home, turn the computer off when you have other things to do. It will make it harder to just take a second to check in.
- Go cold turkey. Have a no Internet weekend.
- Rejoin real life. Rather than messaging on Facebook, arrange to meet a friend for coffee.
Do you spend too much time on the Internet? What are your tips for disconnecting?
photo credit: english 106
