With the advent of twitter, people are starting to reevaluate just how much time they are spending on the web. Some students spend hours a day online. You can see what others are doing on twitter, see their pictures on facebook, or date everyone on your latest drama on blogs. If you do each one you may be spending a lot of time online and not much doing your actual work. These same tools can be used to network, sell your products, get business to your website, get people to join your gro, or keeping with family. All are important worthwhile activities. So how do you differentiate between distraction and worthwhile?
In a recent fireside, Elder Bednar talked about censoring internet use and making sure you are aware of what is real and putting that first. Make sure that you are spending more time in the real world than you are online. He said to monitor your relationships and put the priority on real relationships with people you can see and touch.
Make sure you are only doing things that fit in your normal, everyday moral compass. You should not have a moral compass for real life and one for the internet. What you are doing still affects your mind and body. The cyber world affects your behavior in the real world. When habits are bred, whether in the real world or not, they are still habits and they will come out in your actions.
Teachers are noticing that the students are logging on to twitter during class. I, as a student, have watched people log on to facebook and spend a good two hours there instead of doing the load of homework they were just complaining about. Students are more aware of people’s latest drama than the national news.
So are social networks just a distraction? The answer is that it depends on who you are and what your priorities are. If you get online after you’ve finished your homework or even as a short break during your homework, you are doing fine. Check yourself. Keep track of reality and keep track of your time and you can make social media work for you.
