I’ve been a pretty early adopter when it comes to social networking platforms. I was in on Twitter early, have been an avid Facebooker and have used all things in between. I have been going to Tweetups for as long as I can remember. And I enjoy dabbling in online social activity. That’s because I’m a bit of extrovert.
Actually, let me rephrase that. I was a bit of an extrovert. Thanks to social media, I’ve become a selective extrovert, meaning I’m only a few steps away from being an introvert. And an introvert is something I’d never thought I’d be.
To be fair, I don’t think I’m really going to go full introvert. After all, I’ve performed on stage in front of hundreds of people, given talks on numerous occasions and like getting out and about with friends. But social media has taken its toll on my outings, because I spent a lot of time in my initial dive into the networks I use and got to know people both online and off. There are plenty of opportunities to get out with fellow social network users in my community, and I took advantage of those for a long time. Fatigue has since set in – as well as lifestyle changes – that have kept me in more than out in recent months.
Sure, working from home has played a huge role in this. I don’t have to leave my house very often during the week, so I tend not to leave it very much at all. When I worked downtown, I would go out and meet my friends from the online world and off. Now I socialize with the social media folks online and not as much offline. When I do go out, it is usually for special occasions. No longer do I go to every social media event in town. I am very selective, because I’ve become more selective with my time on all fronts.
Social media allows me to keep in touch with those I’ve not only met online, but those I met before Facebook and Twitter. Thanks to social media, my network has expanded, but it has also helped me be more selective with my time as a whole.
So I figure that my time has been well spent. And because of social media it will continue to be invested – and spent – wisely.
Photo credit: Beck Tench (CC BY 2.0)
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