Social media, like anything else online can be a time suck.
Think about it- how many times a day do you check Facebook? Pinterest or Instagram?
Probably almost as often at your check your email. Today, I counted and discovered I checked my Facebook account four times on my iPhone before noon. And it wasn’t even for work! (Disclaimer, I manage a massive community for my day job, so most of my day is usually spent somewhere in social media land.)
It was checking my personal accounts, just to see what everyone else was up to. I even posted the question to Facebook, because I can’t be the only one who does this- right?
I started thinking about it and I bet, if you were to add up all the minutes in the day spent “perusing” or “scrolling” through social media feeds, it would be an astonishing number. This doesn’t even take into account reading blogs! Hours of life have been lost to social media. I swear! In line at the store, before you go to sleep and on the way to the restroom, social networks are always at your finger tips.
We’ve all been there.
How many minutes do you think you spend poking around social media channels? Do you think it’s more than an hour? or less? What could you do to make that number even smaller?
Be Strategic With Time
An easy way to solve this problem: simply put down your device. But that’s hard!
I know, I know.
On the other hand, you could use technology to your advantage and help get social media usage under control.
Now, there are some pretty cool digital services out there to help you focus and spend a specific limited time on a task. But, there are also some old school tired-and-true methods to help you organize your time. I know people who swear by cute kitchen timers, others who have certain hours blocked off throughout the day especially for networking.
Here is a list of things for you to try if you think you’ve been spending a bit too much time online, than doing the things you love.
Regain Your Time
Anti-Social: A tool that lets you block social networks. No access, no sharing. Simple.
Freedom :Locks the internet for up to 8 hours at a time. A little extreme but whatever works!
RescueTime: Lets you see a breakdown of where you spend your time throughout the day.
And here are a few more worth looking into from Mashable.
So now, my personal challenge to you: Spend less than 7 hours this week on Social Media. Thats 420 minutes over the next seven days. Break it up however you like, but try to keep it under an hour a day. I’m going to track my time in my favorite app, Evernote and in a week report back on results. Who knows, maybe I’ll even need to use a timer or blocker to help! ACK I have no idea how this is going to feel!
I invite you to join me on this personal challenge. Think you can do it?
Join me! Leave a comment below and I’ll check back in with you on Monday, September 2nd to see how it went.
Good luck!… We’re going to need it.
Photo originally uploaded to Flickr Creative Commons by Brantley.
