Has this ever happened to you? You “pop” onto Facebook to check a few things, and then 30 minutes later you find that you have been sucked into a vortex and arestaring,transfixed,at videos of cats paying the piano. You look up at the clock and go, “Shoot! (or some other expletive) I’m supposed to be at the dentist in 3 minutes!”
Okay. I’m going to propose something here:
Facebook is NOT either good OR bad – but thinking makes it so. (Thanks, Will). Seriously, it IS what you say it is. Can it help keep you connected to people that you might otherwise totally lose track of? Yes! (dangling participle and all…) Can it give you a much needed break from facts, figures and seriously annoying people? Yes indeed. Can you occasionally get inspiration, good ideas and sound advice? Absolutely.
And – conversely – overuse of this puppy can plunge youinto a hole so deep that if you don’t get that regular FB Fix, you start jonesing really badly. (Methinks you KNOW of what I speak here…)
So what’s a mature, responsible, pyschologically grounded person to do? Here’s what I propose:
1. Set a time of day and time limit (or better yet – “window” ) for FB surfing.Example: After dinner in the evenings, I’m going to check in FB for 10 to 15 minutes. Then, set a timer if you need to. Hey – if I don’t set a timer for boiling my eggs, I wind up with hardlittle oblong rocks that smell reeeeeeeeally bad.
2. Control your settings on FB so that you ONLY get the email noticesthat you want.
Oh listen to me. Like I know ANYTHING about settings… But I do know this – whenFB changed the default settings recently so that I do NOT get an email notice for all posts that havesomething to do with me or something I have commented on – my FB time went down DRAMATICALLY!
BTW:If you have ANY thoughts or suggestions about how you manage your FB time,let me know!I would appreciate it! Gottarun.The timer just went off. Myeggs are done.
