June 17, 2013

Digital Generation Suffers From Social Media Burnout

I've been seeing these stories lately, and a lot of the stories have reported it as a problem of Generation Y. Don't ask me which generation is Y. I'm not sure which one is Generation X either, or why there wasn't a Generation W, or what they are going to do after Z and they are out of letters. But I digress.

Most of the stories showed young people about the age of my girls, admitting that their parents knew what they were doing when they limited computer play time when these young people were children. But the problem isn't limited to those generations. I know a lot of people my age who say they spend too much time online. I know I do, and I was one who limited the time my children spent playing video games. But we all shared one computer then, and on dialup too. Now I have my own computer with unlimited high speed internet, and no children to pick up and shuttle around all day.

I don't do Facebook anymore, I don't Tweet, I seldom Pin, and I don't Instagram. But I do blog and I'm on several forums. But it's blogging that takes up way too much of my time. If I'm not resizing photos or writing a post, I'm reading and commenting on other blogs, because as most bloggers know, you don't get comments if you don't give them. Plus, I just like seeing what other people are thinking and doing, and I like to comment too. But it does take time. That's one reason I decided to limit my postings recently. I don't think I'm burned out, exactly, but I do see the time it is taking away from things I need to do for me and for my family.

And then there's email and surfing, looking for answers and solutions to problems. In my mind I tell myself I will get my house and garden work done in the morning and not turn on the computer until noon. But if I happen to turn on the computer before noon, that's it, I'm sucked into the internet vortex for the next several hours. And that has got to stop. Generation Y isn't the only one who wants to dial it down, it's Baby Boomers and anyone in between.

My new goal is to limit my internet time to two hours a day. I know Hubby will be happy if I can do that. So if you don't hear much from me in the next few weeks, you'll know why.

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4 comments:

  1. I need to do what you are going to do. It IS getting way out of hand!

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  2. It does take a lot of time to be a member of the blog community, but I wouldn't want to drop out completely. Due to my day job, most of my quilting buddies are on line and I hate to lose that contact. So I try to limit the Internet to one hour in the mornings while I drink my coffee and one hour in the evening. That works pretty well in maintaining the balance, just sometimes I get behind with answering email and reading blogs.

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  3. i can really sympathize with what you have written here.
    even when I've "cut back" on computer time, i am spending quite a lot of time in front of that screen . . . i often wonder how much more sewing i would be getting done if i spent as much time in front of my sewing machine.
    on the other hand, i agree with Kate in that a balance is what needs to be kept. i do need the artistic and social outlet that blogging provides and i do need to spend time reading a good book, stitching and gardening as well.
    btw: how do you feel it's going for you?

    :-)
    libbyQ

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