June 18th, 2009 in Featured, Productivity

Managing Your Social Network Addiction

Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Friendster, Tumblr, Xanga… the list goes on and on. And if you are any sort of tech savy, there is good chance you are a member of multiple social networks. Even I have accounts with at least 5 of these. While there is a lot to be gained by using these services, there is also a lot to be lost.

In case you hadn’t heard, Facebook users share not only a social network of over 200 million, but also significantly lower grade point averages (GPAs) than their non-member classmates (according to Time Magazine). And apparently Jennifer Aniston ended her relationship with John Mayer because he was addicted to Twitter (as apposed to drugs like other musicians… ). This begs the question, how many of us are addicted to social networks, and what can we do about it?

You may think, “I’m not addicted, I can quit anytime!” Well if you have more Facebook friends than real friends, something must be done. If you spend more time on Twitter than in sunlight, it’s time for change. If you spend more time working on your LinkedIn profile than doing actual work, it’s time for an intervention. Regardless of your excuse, this is not ok.

Rehabilitation

Obviously the first step in your rehabilitation is to admit there is a problem. How could you not pick up groceries on your way home from work, yet somehow you twitted 3 times before making it home? You have a problem, and until you realize it, there is nothing we can do for you.

You need to realize that these systems are in place for you to use, not to use you. They are tools, not lifestyles. If you are using the tool for anything other than it’s intended use, chances are you are wasting time. Don’t fret though, with hard work, discipline, and the help from Lifehack, we can beat this addiction, and use these tools the way they were intended.

Here are a few tips that can help you monitor your social network use, and ensure that you are being productive instead of wasting time.

Track Your Time Online – The simplest way to ensure you aren’t wasting time in any one place is to monitor your time. Use a stopwatch and set a limit. When time is up, log out, regardless of what’s left. There is always tomorrow.
Remember the Telephone - I know, it’s so primitive. But a call to a friend works just as well as a Facebook message, and it is real human interaction, something we are losing touch with.
Go Outside – get away from your portal to the network. Get some sunshine, chances are you need it.
Limit Your Memberships – There is no need for memberships to 15 different networks. In fact, there is no need for even 2 memberships of sites which do the same thing. Choose Facebook or Myspace, but not both. Digg, or StumbleUpon. This will probably cut your memberships in half, and hopefully cut the time spent on them down also.
Use Your Networks Productively – When I first used twitter I followed anyone, and had thousands of followers. Strangely though, people rarely responded to my twits, and it was like I was invisible. I decided I’d only use twitter if I could be productive with it, so I unfollowed thousands of users (now below 200), and use Twitter only to share and interact with people with similar interests as mine. Now my Twitter is a tool, not a time warp.
Prioritize - Use these tools only when your work has been done, or during down time. Don’t spend time updating your profile or changing your pic when there is work to be done. This will not only save you time and increase productivity, but will build self discipline as well.
Stop Procrastinating – Many times we get on Facebook or twitter when we have real work that we just don’t want to do. Stop that! Get the work done. Once you finish you’ll have all the time in the world to spend making friends on Facebook.
Remove the Cellphone Apps – You don’t really need Facebook or Twitter on your phone. Nothing on there can be that important. Save your social networking for when you are behind the desk and limit the distractions throughout the day.
Spend More Time With Close Friends and Family – You aren’t the only one who suffers when you spend countless hours on MySpace. Your family and friends don’t see you, because you are too busy learning how to customize your backgrounds and take crazy pictures from all different angles for your profile pic. Cut out the cancer and get back to friends and family.

It’s time to take back your free time. Remember that these sites are built to make money, not increase your productivity. Nobody is looking out for you except you (and me…). Follow my tips and live life in the real world instead of the e-world. Trust me, it’s more fun this way.

Have any other tips to help your fellow addicts get through this rough time? Leave a comment below, and let us know you care.

WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY

Ibrahim Husain

Ibrahim Husain is the creator of ZenCollegeLife.com, a college blog dedicated to helping students succeed in and out of academia. He also journals his lifehack experiments at BrainVault.net. Offline Ibrahim is a fitness addict, motorcyclist, avid reader, guitarist, digital artist, adventure seeker, and so much more.Follow him on Twitter: @IbrahimZCL

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sean says on June 18th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Truer words were never typed!
It started simply enough with Myspace, then a little Facebook, then one of these and one of those. Eventually I was spending so much time checking my “friend’s” status updates that my only productive activity was checking up on others productivity!
Simplify, simplify, simplify…that is the key.
Colin Wright says on June 18th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Since correlation isn’t causation, I don’t know that the first statistic listed here really supports the idea of the post, but I get where you’re going with it.
I agree, too, that some people are using social networks as a life-replacement tool rather than a life-augmenting tool. They should improve the quality of your real life, if used correctly, but too many people use them to avoid their real life.
Srinivas Rao says on June 18th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I completely agree with this post. Our addiction to social network has gotten in the way of connecting with people in real life. I don’t understand why people Twitter the entire time they are at a party. It could be really detrimental the future of social skills. I installed an application called slife to track my time. I had heard somewhere once if you start to limit your non-work related time on the internet to an hour or so a day you would see a dramatic improvement in the quality of your life.
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My ReMa says on June 18th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
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skeptical says on June 18th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
why is it always assumed that “real life” is better than the “e-life”?
AristeoM says on June 18th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I have to disagree with “Remember the telephone”. I agree that the virtual reality provided by social networks distract from actual human contact. The telephone is another form of virtual reality and I don’t think you can vilify one and not the other. The only way to have a personal connection with a person is through face to face interaction, anything else is purely virtual.
Also I actually do the inverse of one of your suggestions and will only use clients on my mobile and not my computer. That allows my computer workstation to be full-blown production and my phone is more of a device to blow off steam.
Twit-pic and a hike for a break.
Alex says on June 19th, 2009 at 2:33 am
Truer words couldn’t be spoken. Incidentally, right before I read this post I started a blog – The Summer Without Facebook – to chronicle my summer without Facebook (I’m 20 and in college…harder than it sounds).
Like everything, social networking is perfectly fine in moderation. However, with so many options, it’s hard to moderate when you have six accounts to check.
Anelly says on June 19th, 2009 at 9:46 am
I’m not a social network addicted, I just like SU :D
addict says on June 19th, 2009 at 11:52 am
OMG! So True! How do I post this to my Facebook profile?
Paul says on June 19th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
I try to use facebook *only* on my iPhone. This way I am only using it in spare moments (like waiting in line) that would otherwise be wasted.
Alison | Quest for Balance says on June 20th, 2009 at 2:39 am
Maintaining profiles on many sites is fine, if you just want to connect w/ people… but I find that choosing just a few social networking sites to use actively helps me keep it under control.
JIm says on June 20th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I subscribe to about 20 different social network services but I only use about 5 continuously.. Do I sound like an addict ? I only use social networking for max 45 min – 1 hr per day during the week and about twice that on the weekend. I use a couple just for business and not as a social tool at all –really. I use friendfeed as an aggregator.
I am a big believer in these tools as social helpers and communications apps. I see how people could get totally immersed in it all, however If your careful and do not get carried away they can be very useful.
To all the addicts I say, get a life guys. Thats all from me, off to take a walk now ….
Michael says on June 21st, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I have to disagree with the one-network rule. I have many friends on MySpace that are not on Facebook, and vice-versa. Some of these are in other parts of the world and I would have no contact with them if not for social networking.
Celes | CelestineChua.com says on June 21st, 2009 at 6:06 pm
As with every tool, it’s meant to facilitate what we are doing, not become the central focus of our life. As Colin mentioned, many use such tools to escape from bigger issues in life. They fall into a daily mundane, which almost comes across as drone-like after a while. I wrote about it before in one of my articles – Are You Sleepwalking Your Life Away? http://celestinechua.com/blog/.....life-away/
Anita says on June 22nd, 2009 at 7:36 am
I glimpsed a few ‘yes, but’ comments on my way through. Denial, sheeple!
Actually, what I want to let you all know about is the downloadable tracker at http://www.wakoopa.com. It is a sure fire way of measuring when and where you spend your time on line, just in case you are in any doubt.
Natalie says on July 1st, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I think the key to this is making sure you use your networks productively. Of course, that’s definitely easier said than done!
Katrin says on July 11th, 2009 at 8:54 am
It’s possible to stop using social networks. But how to make my friends not use them?=)
Luyi says on July 27th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Alternatively, like another user said, limit all you Facebooking to your phone. Who wants to spend that extra 5 seconds waiting for pictures to load? Boom, you’ll find that net Facebook time is cut drastically.
jay says on July 31st, 2009 at 2:33 pm
here is a new site to check out http://www.youonit.com
van dealer says on August 5th, 2009 at 7:09 am
im definitely guilty of using Facebook for procrastination!!
myonder.com - social networks says on August 11th, 2009 at 4:53 am
very nice information.
thanks :)
Recovering Facebooker says on September 20th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I agree with all but the last one. What if you have one of those families that are hopeless dysfunctional and neighbors who don’t seem to understand you and your interests? The ONE advantage of FB and other social networking sites is finding a community of ‘kindred spirits’ as it were. Yes, I’m ‘unplugged’ at the moment, but it’s hard. I think quite possibly quitting smoking is easier than quitting the social networks…but I know I can do this…screwed up family/friends or not lol
Sashree Sepersad says on September 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Great info thanks