In the previous blog posts I discussed the importance of getting enough sleep and physical exercise. For this post I want to provide a quick shout out of the social media diet that I’m currently trying out.
My name is Jan and I don’t have a Facebook or a Netlog account of some kind. I do have a Google+ account that I haven’t visited in like four months. I also have a Twitter account that I’ve used quite often in the past. Currently I’m checking my Twitter account no more than two times a day for only a couple of minutes. Quite often I don’t visit it at all. Why? Because I let it all go.
I did not gain as much free time as I initially anticipated. But what I did gain was my ability to focus on stuff that I kept postponing for some time and more efficiency while doing it. Looking back, my brain feels less flooded and I no longer have that nagging urge that I’m missing out on information that is not really that important in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not entirely condemning social media either. I do get some value out of it, at the very least some entertainment only when I’m open for it. But I just let myself take some benefit from social media in the most superficial way as I possible can without getting too much involved. That way I’m able to pick up or learn something new without feeling like an informationholic.
I no longer have a Twitter client constantly running in the background. I also disabled all other kinds of notifications popping up like e-mail, … etc. And I must say that it works like a charm.
Close your browser or social media client and get out there! Exercise. Read a book. Learn a new programming language. Play with your kids. Listen to some music. Garden. Anything. No one on his dead bed ever said, “I wish I had wasted more time using social media”. Don’t be afraid to miss out on that one tweet or message, because you’re probably already lost track of what’s really important.
Until next time.
