Is Social Networking Tiring You Out?
April 13, 2008 by laura
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
I have had it with social networking. Its too hard to follow what everybody is doing. And I no longer care. Last night I deleted my facebook account, and it felt really good. All those invitations to use the vampire application, was sucking all of the energy out of me. I still have other network sites that I use. Twitter -(and you can see my updates and conversations on the sidebar of this blog.) is the main one that I use. The jury is still out on this site (for me), but at least people don’t send me stupid videos to watch. So far, twitter is working for me -networking wise – but like I said, it may not stick around.
Other sites that I use occasionally are:
Flickr is an interesting site. One that I love looking through. I don’t take enough good pictures to use it properly though, hopefully that will be remedied, but in the meantime – I love looking at the works of people with a talented eye. Some readers of CFS Squared use this site, to showcase their talent – and I am in awe of them.
I use a site called Good Reads, to keep track of the books I am reading. I have tried others before, but the maintenance was too much. This one, doesn’t take up too much time – and the people are friendly, and don’t force themselves upon you. I like that. But I always end up feeling guilty that I don’t read enough.
And finally, I was invited to a networking site called Alopecia World – because of the Baldiness blog that I write. Unfortunately, I have not spent enough time there, to know how it will work for me. However, it does sound like an interesting idea. I won’t be able to spend any time there though, until I have completely recovered from my facebook experience.
What social networking tools do you use – and how do you use them, so they don’t overwhelm your life. If you don’t use online social networking sites- tell us what kind of activities you do to reach out to people. I am all for real life interaction- so let us know what you are doing.
I’m with you, Laura. I seem only able to manage one social networking fad at a time aside from blogging. So for me, it’s twitter and blogs with occasional weekly forays into Facebook if needed. And I have to admit that I use twitter to vent or make comments about my own world rather than reading others’. It can be way too much of a time suck if I try to read everyone’s twitters. And I drop anyone who twitters all their damn blog posts.
I so agree with you on that twitter links thing, sister! I hate it when people do that. I have done it a couple of times, but if I do it more than once a week – I fully expect people to unfollow me.
You may as well be a spammer.
Most of the people I follow, I already check into their blogs occasionally – I do not need a reminder to check ever post.
I pretty much use twitter the same way as you…although when I need advice from boys- I don’t hesitate to ask – I get better and quicker response than phoning up random men I know, and asking for their advice
Ah, so that’s why those things never stuck for me (Facebook was opened, then forgotten, Twitter I never really /got/) – my “network” is called forums. I’ve got one main one that I first got into with wedding planning (first incarnation was created by a local wedding planner company – so mostly local, mostly women close to my age) – that got spilled over into a new “everyday life” board that I try and read most days (not all of it!!!). Then I have three craft-related boards that I can’t keep up with at all. But all are ready to jump in when I have a question or a crisis, and the local one I’ve made RL friends off of, and that means I have people to have “get togethers” with from time to time.
I find it much easier to control the energy usage with these kinds of conversations – I can go in a day or a week later to read the thread, I can respond if I feel up to it, I can beg for help if I need it (or even just a “hug”), and I can follow the ins and outs of some special people’s lives without having to call them up every week and say “what’s up?” (since the phone is a HUGE energy sucker for me). The craft ones are great for “look what I just made, isn’t it awesome?” (which is what I use my blog for too
), and “how the heck do you do X?”. They’ll enable an awful lot of materials-spending too, once I have some disposable income 
. Droooooool.
Yeah, Facebook didn’t really live up to that.
Once upon a time, I used to like the forums too. Especially when I wasn’t working….now I kind of need the quick and dirty version – which is why twitter works well for me – can only use 140 characters, and then you are done.
I am pleased to hear that forums have had a positive influence on you.
I understand your weariness of social networking – well up to a point. What I would go on to say – that doing anything like, sports, music, school – obsession can have an effect. Before I deleted my Facebook profile was to refocus on why you do social networking in the first place. I do social networking for two reasons
1) – promote my expertise
2) – expand my connections with professions around the world
So what I suggest that to limit your use to those specific interest. The caution I offer in regards to turning your back on social networking is that it is not a fade that going away – it is only going to become more embedded in more aspects of our joint life.
This is the time – early in the development of this technology to gain experience making balancing decisions. If you would like to develop a strategy to meet your ends – visit my blog or write me.