Do you find yourself technology time-wasting? Do these 4 things now and change that

There is a lot to love about technology. It’s cool, convenient, helps us be efficient and gives us something to do when there is nothing to do.

But… it can also easily become a serious time-waster if we allow it too.

A good example of this is social networking sites, they are excellent tools to help keep us in touch with friends and family, we can chat to each other in real-time, share photos and even videos, all at the click of a mouse button. However, without you even realizing it, they can create such a powerful draw that the next thing you know, you are wasting more time there than you ever intended on spending.

Here are some interesting stats from RescueTime Data that indicate we are minimally wasting 1 hour a day of our time just between these four websites:

Facebook - Average time spent per person per day: 17.94 minutes

YouTube - Average time spent per person per day: 9.58 minutes

Facebook Applications - Average time spent per person per day: 17.55 minutes

Twitter - Average time spent per person per day: 5.83 minutes

The fact is, that technology gives us the opportunity to waste time and we all to some degree are technology time-wasters. For some it’s 1 hour a day, for others it might be higher than 1 hour a day. For myself, I try my best to limit my total social networking time to a max of 1.5 hours a day, except on my tech-free day which I don’t use any technology at all. This gives me about 10 min to read my top 5 favorite blogs, 10 min on Facebook, 10 min on twitter and 1 hour for brainstorming new topics for blog posts. Some days I will consume the entire 1.5 hours just writing blog posts. But nonetheless, I try my best to stick to that timeframe.

Time-wasting believe it or not can ultimately become a stronghold in your life if you’re not careful, resulting in these two not so good traits:

1. Procrastination – need I say more? You should avoid developing this trait at all costs. Everyone is familiar with procrastination. It’s just not good to procrastinate.

2. Bad attention span, poor focus – You might not think that your innocent technology (time-wasting) checkout everyday of the week is hurting you, but it is. It is causing you to develop a bad attention span and poor focus. If you find yourself needing to waste time, then take a break without technology. You may find it more refreshing.

If you find yourself time-wasting more than you would like, here are four things you can do now to change that:

• Limit your friends to those you actually connect with on a regular basis. As much as I’d love to be friends with everyone that may request it, I must be honest with myself. Do I have time to read all their updates, status reports, pictures? The answer is NO.

• Choose your favorite top 5 blogs and unsubscribe from the rest.  The goal is to weed out distractions.

• Keep a close eye on the time when you hop online and visit your favorite social networking sites. I limit it to 1.5 hours a day at most. This gives me about 10 min to read my top 5 favorite blogs, 10 min on Facebook, 10 min on twitter and 1 hour for brainstorming new topics for blog posts.

• Turn off the technology 2 hours before bedtime. Give yourself time to wind down from the day. Whether you think you need 8 hours of sleep or not, your body does. It needs its proper rest. Don’t stimulate yourself  by wasting time with technology right up until the time you go to sleep.

How do you avoid technology time-wasting? Feel free to share your comments