How to Balance Social Media Time With The Demands of School and Family

[Chuck Bell]

I am really interested in learning how other busy teachers and administrators balance social media time with all the other demands of school and family?  Lately, I feel as though I am spending too much time online.  I know there is no single best answer.  I'm just looking for a few good strategies... 

[David Britten]

I intertwine my social media use with my work and have coaxed my wife into similar habits. That way, we share a common interest but still have time together away from it. I don't think there's a stock answer to this question. I think its harder when someone compartmentalizes their life and the contents of one compartment begins spilling over into others. I have take great pains to make my professional and personal life seamless so I never feel like one is pushing out the other.

[Chuck Bell]

Thanks for the insight, David.

[Ajay Shroff]

Regarding Twitter, one thing I have learned is not to follow everyone who follows you. If that is something you would like to do, you could use a tool like Tweetdeck and lets you filter the people you "really" want to follow. This saves me a ton of time. As for forums, I just stick to about 3 main forums and if I hav extra time, I visit others.
Ajay (Mobl21.com)

[Chuck Bell]

Thanks, Ajay...Tweetdeck is the "go-to" Twitter app for most it seems.

[Cheska Lorena]

Chuck,

I feel you on this one. It's tough to walk away from the computer or the handheld device sometimes, especially when there's so much great information and learning being shared all the time. Personally, I try to balance it out by limiting my online exposure to one to two hours a day, after big errands and projects have been taken care of. I'll sign on quickly in after checking my emails in the early morning and then again when I have some down-time at night. I'll rotate the social networks I visit, and then I'll pick a slow day in the week to really sit down, sift through my RSS feeds, and write some posts. Using an iTouch with wi-fi has helped me also to keep up with my Twitter PLN on a daily basis. When I'm hanging out at home, usually after breakfast or after dinner, I'll spend a half hour and go through Tweetdeck.

[Chuck Bell]

I like your approach...very good advice.

[Drew McAllister]

I appreciate the question, Chuck, and have been asking it myself as of late. I started a conversation here as well as on Classroom 2.0 about the topic and received some great, practical advice from these communities. Thought you might find something helpful in them, too!

[Chuck Bell]

Thanks Drew...Checking out the advice offerings now!

[Linda Bethel]

Just off topic a bit.

Check Cotweet as well, i prefer it to Tweetdeck for some reason, i find it easier to assign tasks. I like the interface as well. But that's with twitter.

Hashtags are great and especially for education, for e.x- #edchat.. I am sure you would have checked them out.

Have you checked the latest 'Social technology sites' if i may use the word -

Elgg
edmodo
Box.net
Mobl21
TeacherTube

Regards

[Brian St. Pierre]

i find the best time for me is to sit down with my laptop at night when watching tv and really look through the stuff that i want to. i usually end up looking far more at that than whatever is on tv. however most of my online time comes down to tweetdeck. dont have a lot of extra time to come to here or other sites, so i go to twitter which i find gives me the most bang for my buck.

[Chuck Bell]

I often do the same...especially if I am watching sports. Thanks for sharing.

[Michael Shepherd]

My family are always on the laptops so it limits me somewhat! I use my iPhone to keep a check on things and share ideas via Twitter and my pln. Never seem to have enough time though!