The Second Step

Last week I challenged you all to track how much time you actually spend on social media networks verses the time you spend on other activities such as outings with family and friends, reading, extracurricular activities…etc. This challenge serves as the back drop for this blog post because you can take the information that you’ve collected and apply it to the steps I’ve listed below on how to effectively manage your time online.  After all, you can’t start prevention and moderation until you first learn where you stand.

Laura Christianson from the bloggingbistro.com wrote a post about effectively managing your social media time and in this post she breaks down a couple of steps outlined in the book 168 hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam. The five steps that Christianson lays out are simple and easy to follow. These steps are:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1)      <!--[endif]-->Track Your Time for 168 Hours (a week)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Become aware of exactly how much time per week you spend social networking.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2)      <!--[endif]-->Categorize your “Billable Hours”

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Categorize how much time you spent working, interacting with friends and family, sleeping, showering, exercising, checking social media…etc.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3)      <!--[endif]-->Reprioritize and Reorganize

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->If you learn that you have been spending way too much time on social media then it’s time to consider reprioritizing and reorganizing your social media networking method.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Some suggestions include: only updating your accounts for 15 minutes at the beginning of the day as well as at the end of the day, reserve a specific chunk of the day to social networking, spend five minutes, four times a day interacting with friends online or, create a moderate method of your own.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4)      <!--[endif]-->Set a Timer

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Choose one method from above or one that you have created and test it for three weeks. If you plan to limit yourself to 15 minutes on social media then set a timer for 15 minutes and once that timer goes off, you’re done, no excuses.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->You can set a timer using your cell phone, egg timer or there are a number of web-based timers online such as e.ggtimer.com and online-stopwatch.com.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->5)      <!--[endif]-->Be Consistent

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Finally, whichever method you choose you must commit to using it consistently. Developing a consistent pattern will help you stay more in control of your time and as a result you will learn to use your time more productively and efficiently.

With the completion of this second step you are well on your way to developing a healthier and more productive lifestyle by reducing your risk of addiction to social media.

My next challenge for this week is to delete at least one social media account and replace it with an activity unrelated to the online world, such as a sport, hobby, club or group. While deciding what account to delete, weigh out the positives and negatives of that site and ask yourself exactly what you are benefiting from and what you would be losing if you deleted this account right now. If you can’t honestly justify why you should keep the account active then delete it, it’s as simple as that. You never know, you may thank yourself for it later when you have extra time for other activities or when you have one less social media site to worry about when applying for jobs.

Until next week!

-Tiffany H