I realised recently, that our inbox had 7000 mails in it (not including stuff I had saved into folders, for work, photos etc) and that I have 5 Twitter accounts, 5 Facebook pages, 6 e-mail addreses, 2 G+ accounts, 2 Instagram accounts, 3 blogs as well as my personal Facebook profile, and being subscribed to a lot of mails, blogs, and websites….
ARE YOU MAD? I hear you ask? Probably, yes. I am hardly a social media guru, and I don’t do this professionally or for a living, so as you can imagine I have managed to get myself into a total mess, with too much mail, too many social media sites to manage, and it’s chaotic, and I cannot handle the amount of mail, and communication coming at me.
My Twitter accounts are personal, two for work, one for my Gluten free blog, which isn’t actually really running much, one for Layla (yes, she Tweets, she has followers, too).
My Instagram is private, and personal, but I also have one for the Gluten Free blog, which I barely use. I use my work mail regularly, but for some reason, have managed to accrue a Google + account with it, which I don’t want to use, but keeps sending me stuff and I also have an old Google mail account which I do use for Google + for the blog. I have 3 blogs. This one, the Gluten Free one, and a work one. Is your head spinning yet? Mine certainly is and of course I am not coping with it all, because fankly, it is ridiculous. How can one person manage all of that, and of course I don’t need that much communciation going on.
So for the past week, I have been having a bit of what I would loosely term a tidy up. I have cleaned out our mail, unsubscribed to a huge number of sites and mail feeds, and set up my spam filter properly (who knew that this could work so well?) I have decided to delete the Gluten Free blog, and in the new year, I am hoping a lovely friend of mine, who is far more savvy at things like making blogs pretty but functional, will help me set up this blog so I have a whole section for gluten and cows milk free resources and blog posts. I have deleted two Twitter accounts, and the Gluten Free Instagram account, and will be handing over the control of some of my work Facebooking and blogging to a friend who is going to help me with that side of things.
I have also figured out how to use the spam filter on my mail accounts properly, which is making a huge difference, and am taking great satisfaction in unsubscribing to things that clutter up both our family mail box and my work and blog mail. I have cut back on how many people I follow on Twitter, which sounds harsh, but I simply cannot keep up, with the feed, but rather am trying to stay in “touch” with those I interact with regularly, and those people I find interesting or relevant to where I am at right now.
It’s hard. I love social media, as an introverted person, with some sensory issues, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, blogging and all the other avenues are perfect, but I have let it all get a bit out of control. I am not making New Year resolutions, per say, this year for going into 2014, but one thing I do want to do is be more in control of my in-boxes and what comes down on my social feed. It will probably be challenging, but I am looking forward to keeping it less cluttered, more interesting and less stressful.
The next thing on my agenda is “Can you give up your smartphone for a week and manage without it?”. I don’t think I can. I will be blogging about what I use my beloved iPhone for, and then doing a week of no phone (except for a very old basic mobile, so I can be contacted for emergencies for the children) which could be a big challenge for me. Watch this space….
I don’t think I could do without it for a day, let alone for a week! #PoCoLo
wow so many!! i think you did the right thing cutting it down. but no phone for a week will be a bit extreme – not easy!
Social Networking etc can seem overwhelming at times, I remember setting up a Twitter account for the dog as a lot of people had them but I couldn’t manage just 2 accounts let alone 5!
As I spend more and more time at home though with chronic illness that lifeline to the outside world is fantastic and I’d hate to be without my online contacts now.
Good luck with your challenge! 🙂 #pocolo
Crikey! And I thought I was on overload!! I keep trying to find the time to find the time to have a sort out!! Good luck with the tidy up. Thank you for linking to and supporting PoCoLo this year 🙂 x
Oh wow – I’m quite new to this blogging stuff, and thought it was hard enough managing a personal facebook page, and a personal one, and one Twitter account! Hope you get it all sorted out soon. Popping over from #PoCoLo
Wow! I wrote a dissertation on Information Overload but this was about 7 years ago and I don’t think I even mentioned social media! Now this really is too much so well done for cutting back! My mum & dad’s reading group read a book called “The Winter of our Disconnect” in which one family decides to go completely techno-free (we’re talking TV, mobiles, and internet plus? Not sure what else!) for six whole months – imagine that!! #pocolo
Go you! You’ve motivated me to tidy up my Twitter account – far too many people I’m following that I’m not interested in, and I’ve just cleared my email inbox, woohoo! I have no idea how on earth you’ve been keeping up with all of this! I can’t wait to hear how you get on without the smartphone….