Wait... Where Did The Time Go?
You take a break and open Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc...
You then look at the clock and realize that a considerable time has passed when you only meant to take a quick break. And.... this is probably not the first time this situation has occurred today and most likely not the last.
Most often, such time spent is mindless zombielike scrolling. Yes, you get to catch up on the goings on in the lives of your friends, catch up on radically skewed versions of current events, see outlandish advertising for miracle solutions, be bombarded by slews of advertisements for things you just talked about on the phone with your friend, and the list goes on.
Did you gain anything of value from your scrolling? Most likely not. However, our devices are always near our fingertips and have a siren like call. I am sure there is some scientific rationale of what is going on in our brains as we scroll through the endless stream of data. It is addicting. I think for the most part, we can all agree that time spent scrolling is time wasted.
Instead of taking the drastic tactic of saying NO MORE SOCIAL MEDIA, what if we harnessed the draw and power to give back to ourselves? Before we sit on the couch and begin media surfing, we can set an alarm on our device for X amount of time. When the timer goes off, we then reset the timer again for X amount of time and do something positive and constructive. Instead of letting media suck us dry, we can harness it to give back to ourselves.
I actually don't know what the result with be. But, before I open Facebook today, I am going to set the timer and see what happens. I would love to hear feedback of what happens to you if you try this tactic.