I've been thinking a lot about the constant bombardment of information in today's social media world. When will it be too much? There's no end in sight for the amount of information one can accrue. Jay Baer interviewed Brian Solis to reveal an unsurprising trend in social media: social media fatigue.
Jay: Yeah. I’m glad you mentioned changing who you connect with in different outposts. As you know, there’s been somewhat of a micro trend recently of people just sort of saying, “You know what? I’m throwing up my hands. I’m going to, especially on Twitter, unfollow everybody and then start from ground zero.†I know Chris Brogan has done it and other people have done it. What do you make of that? Is that a sign of the times? Is that a sign that we did it wrong the first time? To me, that is a symptom of a bigger issue.
Brian: I’ve studied this actually, the idea of social network fatigue. And there’s parts of this in the book where we talk about the effects that this is having on society. I use examples of students who are feeling like, even though they’ve wired themselves for this, they can’t keep up with what it is that they’ve created. There’s this sense that not only are they always on, but there’s this psychological need to be always on. Otherwise they feel like they’re missing out, they’re disconnected, their relationships are going away from them. So part of this is self-created. But also, it’s perpetuated through the “social media expertsâ€.
For the full interview click here.
I find myself in a constant battle over the amount of time allotted to social media. I'm much more productive when I tune out the social distractions. But as a result, I miss out on baby announcements, birthdays, etc. In a sense, my “real life” becomes negatively impacted when I tune out my social presence. I take regular social media sabbaticals but it's sometimes not enough to clear away all of the virtual clutter.
Has anyone been able to find the right balance?
