Information overload

Forget about Facebook. It's only real benefit is the social networking aspect... keeping up with friends from high school, college, postgrad. But here's the catch, your friends need to be using it for it to be worthwhile. For the most part that means you must have been an undergrad student in the last 5 or 6 years. If you're not in that category it's probably just as easy to keep track of your friends with the snail mail addresses.

That said, for business purposes Linked-In serves an even better purpose. No posting of pictures of your kids, just straight linking between colleagues, etc. Much more professional. Not at all MySpace/Facebook-ish.

That's Rod, not Ron...sorry!

and if you do go on social networking you should try Beliefnet's. It's really good: community.beliefnet.com

Haven't tried Beliefnet's social networking, but Rod might like Orthodox Circle. As its name suggests, it's in the Myspace/Facebook mold, but confined to Orthodox Christians, so no young ladies inviting you to view their webcams or other such irritations.

I'm an attorney in a large city, so very used to the information overload of e-mails, phone calls, etc. Earlier this fall, my wife forced me to take a vacation to Hawaii (well she didn't have to twist my arm, but taking a three week vacation in my line of work is not exactly normal).

Anyhow, we spent one week on the island of Molokai, which is off the beaten tourist path and pretty remote. No internet and only limited cell phone reception. After a day or two of electronic withdrawal, I got used to the slower pace, and not giving a damn what was going on on the internet, at work, etc. I read a number of books that I never have time to read, and for the first time in years, finally wound down. My wife definitely noticed the change.

I should note that the only reason this worked is because I was FORCED to stay off the internet because there literally was no connection in the house I stayed at, and no cell reception. Best week I've had in a long time. Much harder to abstain when the computer's only two feet away. Another suggestion is to swear off internet brousing during Lent. I did that one year and it worked pretty well too.

Now, I will await the merciless flogging I deserve for making an internet post on a weblog about why I stopped, um, reading ... internet posts on weblogs for a week and how great it was for me.

damnit.

Rod,

I feel your pain, and suffered through a real difficult period where my personal and professional productivity was swamped by my attempts to keep up with the sheer amount of data I process on a daily basis. Major unplugged commitments, primarily physical and/or outdoors (biking, martial arts, dates with my wife), are essential; I found I had to keep "office hours" even though the "office" is the computer at the other end of the house.

I also have found a lot of benefit from the professional organization and productivity tools/methods of a fellow named David Allen, particularly a book called Getting Things Done. (http://www.davidco.com/)

Mike Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson and Chairman of Conciliar, is also a GTD fan. The subtitle of the book is "The Art of Stress-Free Productivity." The stress of informational overload is not something to be taken lightly, and there are wonderful crunchy ways to remain "plugged in" and not succumb to IO.

Bless,
Doug

Just last night, I learned that two good friends simply don't have Internet access or computers at home. It sounded pretty primitive to me, but it's not a bad idea.

I second comcon's and Rod's consecutive comments in the 4 o'clock hour ...

For many years I was a senior technical manager for a software development company, and the culture *seemed* to require that constant availability others have discussed. The phone was always picked up, and I devoutly checked my email first thing in the morning upon waking up, hurried off to work, then came home and after a hurried dinner (if I didn't just stay at the office the nights they brought food in so we'd work later!), would log in again.

I burned myself out pretty good and realized I needed to stop playing the game, set some boundaries and take some chances. First thing I did was downsize my job to that of an individual contributor ... the pay was almost as good, and while my ego took 2 or 3 years to adjust to my "deflated" career and still rises in revolt now and then when, in moments of doubt, I question the wisdom of walking away from the "big career" track, there have been many compensations, mostly the ability to carve out sacred times for myself in the morning and evening that I never let myself have before, and the ability to really make self-care and staying in touch with family and friends the priority that the crunchy part of me wanted it to be.

So what if I have less stuff? So what if many of my peers are getting those second houses or fancy cars? The ability to have time to pursue interests, read, blog here, etc. really feels worth it to me. I don't think I'll have any regrets.

But Alicia, what would we do without Rod???!!?!?!?!?!?! :-)

Amen, amen, amen. I made the comment short so there might be a chance you'd be able to get to it. Love your blog.

So Rod...I received an email notification today that I should add you as a friend on Facebook. Have you changed your opinion?

Actually, I think it's great if you have some manner of self-control. Since I joined in October, I believe I have been in touch with nearly 70% of our graduating class, as well as family members who I haven't seen in years.

It's great for those of us who wish we had time to keep in touch with everyone, but realistically cannot. This way you can spend 10 minutes and get an general idea of what's going on with everyone (or at least what they choose to share).

So if you really are on FB, welcome! And I will be adding you as a friend later today!