Blogging.
Those are the ones that suck me in at least. Believe me, even just linking to those sites just now was a dangerous thing.
And not just when we get on our computers or laptops at home, thanks to smart phones, these time-sucks can tempt us at all hours of the day. Everywhere we take our phones.
Bloggers, or those who have business to promote online, are tempted even MORE. Why? Because we tell ourselves that we are “networking for the good of our (fill-in-the-blank).”
BUT all of a sudden we are frantically checking our phones every couple of minutes, updating statuses ALL THE TIME, and sometimes not getting things done that need to be done, like things on my to-do list for my “day off?”. (PS I got all but two things done! yay!)
Whether you’re in an office, on your feet all day or supposed to be studying or doing homework online, temptations are everywhere.
Social media on the phone:
Do you REALLY need to be notified each and every time you get a tweet or Facebook notification?
If you don’t, you can change your phone’s settings to not buzz or make a noise for these social media sites. I know that Facebook will even let you change it so that you don’t get notifications at all, but you can log onto Facebook to see what’s up when you have a moment.
So when do you check your social media on the phone since you aren’t getting notifications?
- When you are on break at work.
- Between classes at school.
- AFTER dinner with a friend/spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend. Put your darn phone in your purse or where you and the people you are with can’t see it. I am guilty of this too, but really, can’t we wait a full hour to check our phones and spend some quality time with the people who are right in front of our faces?
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| Pay attention to your friends like Katie and Calee |
- Or once an hour. Or once every two hours.
If you are really having issues, these clear boundaries need to be set in place.
Social media on the computer/laptop:
The only way I’ve gotten this to work is to either use the time limit (like above) or the ultimate helper below.
If you are trying to get work done on the computer, you can set a timer, say 45 minutes or an hour and take a break to check your social media, get a snack, use the restroom, stretch your legs, etc. (It is good to step away from the screen once an hour.)
If you are like me and have a blog that you LOVE to update, edit pictures for, and socialize to “publicize” your blog slash you just love communicating with the people you’ve met through blogging, you might need the ultimate social media helper.
This will help you manage six different sites that you get sucked into the most. (It doesn’t, however, stop you from reading the abundance of blogs you love, unless you use one of the six to block it. You might have to do the timer thing for blog reading.)
Leechblocker is an add-on for Firefox, so this will only be helpful if you have this internet browser, which, why not get it if it will help save you time?
It is also a free add-on..yay for that!
Here are the sites I have “blocked” settings for:
- Blogger.com (this is where I write/edit posts, check stats, and do behind-the-scene things)
- My blog site (my actual site semihealthyblog.com. I found out that blogger.com and my site actually needed two separate blocks)
- Picmonkey.com (where I edit photos..yes, I can get caught up for HOURS playing with different effects)
- The site can be blocked after a certain number of minutes within a certain period of time. For example I have Facebook set up to be blocked after 30 minutes within four hours.
- You can set the site to be blocked during certain hours of the day. I have all of mine set to be blocked between 11pm and 6am since I find that late-night internet surfing often interferes with sleep. I can also be sucked in a lot more easily during this time, can anyone relate? I still have twitter on my phone, so I do check my feed out during my bedtime snack, but once I’m in bed, the phone gets set down.
You can also set up a notification to pop up when you are close to having your time on the site expire.
And when you’ve spent too much time, you are blocked! Leechblocked!
Sometimes I get annoyed when I’m blocked, and you will have to play with the amount of time that works for you, but more often I think, “Yep, that needed to happen.” You can still go back and re-set the amount of time that can be spent on a site if you REALLY needed to get something done, but I’ve tried very hard not to do that.
How about you? Do you have a way of preventing social media from taking over? Or should you start to monitor this more closely?
This is such a great post! I love that when you girls were at my place that none of us really spent any time on social media. I try to unplug on the weekends and I make a practice of only answering e-mails during the week if possible — unless I’ve promised somebody something important. 🙂
Yes I liked it too! I did get my phone out for food pictures but especially at restaurants I TRY to keep it in my purse!
This is such a great post! I love that when you girls were at my place that none of us really spent any time on social media. I try to unplug on the weekends and I make a practice of only answering e-mails during the week if possible — unless I’ve promised somebody something important. 🙂
Yes I liked it too! I did get my phone out for food pictures but especially at restaurants I TRY to keep it in my purse!
Great post and tremendous insight. I could loan you 4 kids to occupy your smart phone and computer…:). No, I have to set limits also – but it is easier when I have to share!
aha! now you have 2 comments. 🙂
hehe I heart you.
aha! now you have 2 comments. 🙂
I am sooo plugged in, and not good at not-being so. Part of my problem is that I have antsy-hands…I can’t sit still to save my life. So, therein enters the phone!
Maybe I should try knitting again…
Oh I hear ya. You should try knitting haha!
I am sooo plugged in, and not good at not-being so. Part of my problem is that I have antsy-hands…I can’t sit still to save my life. So, therein enters the phone!
Maybe I should try knitting again…
LOVE this!! It’s such a thing these days, especially with our generation, that we are always plugged in. It can be a good thing but I’m also a believer that putting our phones away from time to time is a good thing. I remember one time I went to breakfast with some coworkers, the two managers we were with spent SO much time on their phones it became a joke of breakfast to see how long they could go without picking it up. Meanwhile, me and the guy basically kept our phones in our pockets the whole time! Sometimes I find it freeing to put my phone and social media away and focus on something else or the people I’m with!
It IS freeing to put the phone in the purse!
LOVE this!! It’s such a thing these days, especially with our generation, that we are always plugged in. It can be a good thing but I’m also a believer that putting our phones away from time to time is a good thing. I remember one time I went to breakfast with some coworkers, the two managers we were with spent SO much time on their phones it became a joke of breakfast to see how long they could go without picking it up. Meanwhile, me and the guy basically kept our phones in our pockets the whole time! Sometimes I find it freeing to put my phone and social media away and focus on something else or the people I’m with!
WOW, this is awesome. Thanks for compiling all of this information (and instruction) in one place. I’m relatively good about staying off twitter and facebook at work. [Well, facebook is blocked by my school so no big deal there. :)] However, in between groups of kids I often will check in to my reader or look at a blog. I am SO bad about wanting to instagram everything right away, but am learning to either just snap a pic and do it later…or just not worry about it. Just like I don’t need to know everything about everyone at every moment, they certainly don’t need to know that about me!
Oh I’m bad about that too! Especially when I’m super proud of a dinner I made…may have tweeted my lasagna 3 nights in a row… 😉
WOW, this is awesome. Thanks for compiling all of this information (and instruction) in one place. I’m relatively good about staying off twitter and facebook at work. [Well, facebook is blocked by my school so no big deal there. :)] However, in between groups of kids I often will check in to my reader or look at a blog. I am SO bad about wanting to instagram everything right away, but am learning to either just snap a pic and do it later…or just not worry about it. Just like I don’t need to know everything about everyone at every moment, they certainly don’t need to know that about me!
hehe I heart you.
Oh I hear ya. You should try knitting haha!
It IS freeing to put the phone in the purse!
Oh I’m bad about that too! Especially when I’m super proud of a dinner I made…may have tweeted my lasagna 3 nights in a row… 😉