My Problem With Social Networking

Social networking is fun. It helps us to keep in touch with friends and relatives from all over the globe. With just a few words we can share our day to day experiences with those who are interested in our lives. We can share our opinions, plan events and congratulate important life moments. We can connect with people of similar interests from all parts of the country.

Through social networking we can also stalk our enemies and exes. We can spy on our competition or we can pretend to be someone else. Connecting with members of the opposite sex in different states and countries is easily accomplished. We can carry on secret conversations nobody will ever know. We can read news stories that may or may not be true, but sometimes it’s not worth the time to check out the validity of them. Through the safety of the screen we can be rude to others.

Social networking helps us waste time. It’s boring waiting in the checkout lane … time to pull out our phone and check the social networking sites. Got a few minutes waiting for the washer to get done … check social networking. Not quite awake yet in the morning? Drink that coffee and pull up the social networking sites for the overnight news.

And therein lies the problem for most of us. Instead of using social networking to fill a few extra moments it begins to be a priority for us after a while. A few moments easily turn into an hour. What else could we do with that hour?

Social networking is a narcissist’s playground. You will recognize most of them right away. Each day they post a new “selfie”, a picture of him or herself. They bring new meaning to the word drama because the internet is a huge audience from which to garner attention.

I am just as guilty as most people. I love to check my feed in the morning while I drink my coffee and get ready to start my day. When I find an article posted that looks interesting I open it to read. When I go back to my feed there are 20 new things that have been posted so I have to refresh my feed so I don’t miss something important. Before I know what’s happened I’ve spent an hour “catching up”.

However, lately I’ve been trying to be more aware of my online hours. Time has always been an enemy for me. There is never enough time to do everything I feel I need to do and social networking makes that even worse. It’s been hard but when I feel a need during the day to check my feed I stop to ask myself what else could I do with 15 minutes. I’m not always successful at convincing myself to put my phone down. But sometimes I am. It’s a start.