Internet intervention: How to break bad tech habits
PORTLAND, Ore - E-mails, texts, tweets, Facebook updates: Do you ever feel overwhelmed keeping up with technology that's supposed to keep you connected?
Never fear, there are ways to manage your tech time and put hours back in your day.
Margo Mead could use the time. The Bethany mother of five is working part time and going to school to become a paralegal. But still, she finds herself getting sucked into Facebook, Pinterest, and Words with Friends multiple times a day.
"I'm just going to check Facebook for a minute, and next thing I know, a half hour has gone by," explained Mead.
Mead is not alone. Americans spend a collective average of 100,000 years on Facebook every month.
"Make technology work for you," encourages Jennifer Jolly, Tech Life Editor for www.tecca.com - the largest female-focused tech website.
Jolly says to start with the website www.rescuetime.com. It's a dashboard that tracks what you do online and for how long.
“So if you find that you're getting distracted every day from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. with Words with Friends, you can block that from your Internet for those hours,” said Jolly.
You can even block yourself from getting online altogether. The website www.macfreedom.com works in a similar way.
The websites www.hootsuite.com and www.tweetdeck.com are social media management tools that allow you to update all your social media accounts at the same time.
The website www.sanebox.com is another online tool that sifts, sorts, and stacks your e-mails based on what's most important to you.
Finally, when it comes to your smartphone, turn off the instant notifications.
“Those dings, rings and annoying things distract you throughout your day,” said Jolly. “When you start adding up all that time that you lose, you realize what a big impact it's having.”
Mead said she is willing to give these tech blockers a try.
“It's good to know that they are things to help, and it just doesn't take will power and staying strong and staying on track,” she said.
Put the cell phone down. put the computer away...go outside, rake some leaves, pull some weeds. Move the wood from one pile to the other.
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People seem to be stuck in the "tech" rut for some reason. Get some self control, turn off the TV, especially while the weather allows you to go outside. I was on Facebook for a short while, finding friends and acquaintenances from the military etc. But after awhile it was so boring, so many would post what they had for dinner, or apps to post while going to or from the Pizza place...give me a break. So I deleted all pictures, unfriended all, deleted the account...and for some strange reason, I have not missed it one little bit
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So many people just don't have a clue. The real question everyone should ask themselves is: Are you using technology to enhance your life, or are you a slave to technology because you allow it to control your life? A lot of technology is neat, cool, and amazing but it really doesn't contribute to improving one's life. And a lot of people buy technology, apps, etc. just because everyone else does - monkey see, monkey do.  The cell phone manufacturers and software companies have created a market and create demand because people are too engrossed to realize they are being used as cash cow puppets. In a recent Wall Street Journal article people were explaining they were dining out less as a family but they were buying the latest smartphones and paying on average more than $100 per phone per month. Some people are paying more than $4,000 per year for their smartphones and services! Does that really improve one's life and interpersonal relationships?Â
"I'm just going to check Facebook for a minute, and next thing I know, a half hour has gone by," explained Mead.
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This lady has no self control.
99% of my friends need this. We can't get through an entire evening without someone having to post on FB, check their phone, tweet or whatever these kids do now.  I don't have a FB or tweet, and I get the occasional "how is this possible"? It's VERY possible.
Whoa whoa whoa, why would we want to break the tech habit? We're starting kindergartners on iPads, and trying to make sure schools go paper free and everything is done electronically and now all of a sudden we need to break the habit?
I confess that I spend way to much online but "living in my mom's basement" I don't have anything else to do except get stoned and get free handouts from Obama. (sarc)