The internet and social media are everywhere. They are no longer just on your computer screen during office hours. They are also on your tablet on the couch when you are watching television. In your pocket in line at the checkout. During the dance performance, during dinner, or while you are putting your children to bed.
If you’re honest, you have to admit that those last examples aren’t positive anymore. Checking your email during dinner? Posting a tweet while your kids are brushing their teeth. Do you really want that?
Much nicer than that so-called quality newspaper
Let me start by saying: there is nothing wrong with the internet and social media . They are a list to data great source of information and entertainment. Often more fun than television or the so-called quality newspaper, with their one-pot-wet opinions. On social media you follow your niece, read the live report of an eyewitness, or learn directly from an expert.
Social media is great! Just as great as a beer or a pastry. And we have learned to deal with that too. We don't drink beer all day, but alternate it with tea or water. We don't eat pastry every day, but alternate it with fruit or vegetables. That's how we have to learn to deal with social media too. Learn not to go on a rampage like a hollow-headed-gijs and update posts insatiably.
We need to learn to set boundaries. Stay in control of social media, so that it doesn’t become the boss of us. I can tell you from personal experience: it’s not easy! I love social media. And those bad examples from the introduction? They all come from my own life. Well, I’m the mother who quickly sends out that one tweet while brushing her teeth…
It is precisely because I am so enthusiastic that I have also learned how to curb my addiction. How to prevent myself from experiencing life as a social media junkie only in posts and updates. I find my way through trial and error. With good days full of inspiration, with bad days with too many tweets. While brushing my teeth.
Six tips to stay on track
So what are the golden tips to keep social media fun? The following things keep me on the right track:
1. An evening offline
A fun experiment started during the summer holiday of 2009. Under the French starry sky I concluded that the peace was wonderful. The big nothing. No TV, a campsite without wifi. I could smell the air again, felt the earth. I wanted that more often. So from then on we decided to go offline with the whole family every Friday night. No TV. No email. No tweets. The smartphones on the cupboard in the room, quiet music on and play a game together or finish a good book. And no, not sneaking to the toilet with the smartphone in your trouser pocket. Well, every now and then. For a little while…