Comments on: Is Social Networking Sucking Your Life Away?

By: Maria Langer

Maria Langer — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:26:47 +0000

Unfortunately, I HAVE to be on Facebook for business reasons. But I do try to minimize the time I spend there. It’s the least I can do in an effort to stay productive.

I think you’ll like Twitter. Far less of an investment in time, easy to pick up and put down, nice to meet new people online without making them “friends.” I still prefer Twitter over Facebook for interaction with people online.

Good luck to you!

By: HAL

HAL — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:34:16 +0000

I turned off my Facebook account about 4 weeks ago. I had a moment where I hated everything and just didn’t want interaction with people who claimed to be my “friends”. Less than a day later my best real life friend contacted me asking what happened to my account. A few other friends have inquired about where I went.
I didn’t spend a lot of time on Facebook but I don’t miss it. Mostly for the reasons you list, the “value” recieved from the time spent there is simply not worth the investment.
I am starting back to school to change careers (tired of my current profession) and figure school and real life will consume most of my time.
I may have to give this Twitter thing you speak of a go…

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:26:04 +0000

I actually found your site by Googling “social networking sites are sucking my life away,” so you can guess where I’m at with this issue. I know this post is a couple of years old, but just wanted to thank you for the good read. I fell into online marketing a couple of years ago and simply hate the fact my life is spent in front of a computer for hours on end, interacting with people via cyber space. Technology is both a blessing and a curse.

By: Maria Langer

Maria Langer — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:36:18 +0000

I also spend some time (although I try not to spend a lot) surfing the web. Once in a while, I’ll find some blog posts or other Web content I really enjoy.

My husband watches TV to “unwind” at the end of a long workday. I see no reason why others shouldn’t use the Internet for the same purpose.

I just worry about people who make their lives revolve around virtual friendships on online communities. People who’d rather spend a nice day off in front of a computer than doing something outdoors with family or friends.

Kind of like me, today.

Thanks for reminding me. Tomorrow will be a no-computer day.

By: niklas

niklas — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:16:43 +0000

I think you’ve not missed anything. I just came across your site, probably around two hours ago. It’s now after 3am, in the UK. I read your post about wasting time as that’s exactly what I know I do but I manage to do this without participating in any social networking sites (being registered but not doing anything else on LinkedIn doesn’t count). I also don’t have a television. I waste time ‘looking up stuff on the Internet’ and then reading things I find there, and I spend far longer on this than is reasonable. It’s perhaps the equivalent of eating chocolate when you know you should eat cabbage, it’s an indulgence. I work very long hours doing something moderately well that’s not particularly satisfying but is fairly pressurised so having the luxury to mess about on the Internet to almost no practical purpose is a sort of reward. Perhaps the other activities are similar, a way for people to be deliberately wasteful when normally they have to be responsible. On the other hand, I like what I’ve read on your site so I don’t really feel whatever time I’ve spent here has truly been wasted; do please carry on writing stuff that ruins my Sunday by eating into my Saturday night sleeping time.

By: Maria Langer

Maria Langer — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:12:05 +0000

Yes…water cooler. That’s it exactly.

And thanks for the complement. I don’t think anyone’s every applied to word “eloquent” to anything I’ve written before. Aw, shucks! You’re making me blush!

By: Leanne

Leanne — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:46:50 +0000

That’s about the most eloquent summary of why the ubiquitousness of social networking sometimes puts me off. I barely have time for friends in real life, so I end up making a really lousy virtual friend in most social networks. Twitter, on the other hand, is low-commitment; I can update when I have a few seconds of otherwise dead time. And as you’ve observed, it stands in for the water-cooler that people in brick-and-mortar offices enjoy, without the drawback of people *needing* me to participate at any given moment.