Social Site Overload

I haven't blogged in awhile because I've discovered Facebook. (Which, by the way, if you haven't yet, friend me!)

Does anyone else struggle with all the ways to stay connected--but wonder if we're more disconnected from those around us because of the distraction of connecting with those who are far away? (I actually heard a DJ say she was giving up Facebook for Lent. She said she wasn't sure she could do it.)

The other thing...while it's nice, and I am glad to be connecting with people I haven't talked to in forever, just wondering who has the time for all of these sites? Is it extroverts who can juggle it all?

How do you juggle all of it? How do you decide what is and isn't important to stay plugged into?

Comments

[Susan Hughes]

No - I don't have time for it all!

Check out what Anne Jackson says:
http://www.flowerdust.net/2009/02/24/closing-down-flowerdustnet/

[Chris Yount Jones]

I love what Anne Jackson says! Very interesting...

My thing, though, is that it's too easy to fast from something that I've yet to get addicted to!

Her comments, though, do echo a few things I was mulling over this morning--a God thing?
1. If I'm spending my time trying to figure out what I'm going to say online, am I missing opportunities to talk to and listen to God instead?
2. If I'm spending time trying to think of pithy and enriching things to say online, am I missing opportunities to think of ways to enrich the lives of people around me?

Thanks for the link to Anne.

[Glen Woods]

I think you have to pick and choose and use moderation in the process. There are always more people to meet, more information to learn, more resources to access....but the time alotted to us each day remains the same. Consequently I use those social utilities which best make use of what limited time I can devote to them. I like facebook because it allows me to connect with a variety of groups within my social circle: parents in my church, teens who grew up in my kids ministry, friends from days gone by, other children's leaders, etc. I like twitter because I can learn from a small group of other cp's as they go about their days. I like kidology because of its narrow focus on childrens and family ministry and the high concentration of excellent content. All of these I use, however, in moderation. I appreciate and have an account on cmconnect, but have not used it much, because it overlaps with facebook and kidology and something had to be set aside. I spend probably a few minutes a day checking the three sites I mentioned, except on those days when I am interacting more fully with users on kidology. I then may spend up to an hour on a given day adding content and trying to answer questions of kidology members.

[Tammy Jones]

I feel left out when people talk about their blog, twitter,or their iphone. I have a Facebook and Myspace page.I love Facebook much better, but I have friends on myspace who are not on Facebook. I do read blogs and a few forums. But sometimes I feel overwhelmed,like I am overconnected! How do people keep up with all this?