Social Media Overload

I love blogs and blogging, Twitter and Tweeting. I enjoy the ability to connect online in a variety of different networks, but I'm waving my white flag. I've hit the wall. I'm suffering from social media overload.

Unlike the proverbial wall runners hit prior to a rush of endorphins, this one feels more like a dead end. I used to think I spent a lot of time reading and responding to email, and that was back when I received a scant 50 or so messages each day. Now, although I ruthlessly delete anything irrelevant, the number of messages building up in my inbox seems to grow exponentially each week.

But it's no longer just my email inbox that's daunting me, it's those inane Facebook invitations to play this game or take that quiz, or "friend" a person I've never met.Oh, and don't get me started on the daily requests to become a fan of this company or that blog.

Over at LinkedIn, the professional networking site, there's more of the same. Yet another inbox filled with friendly notes, link requests from people I know as well as those I have a specious, if any, connection to. And then there's the LinkedIn version of the Fan request- will you recommend me?

I don't mean to sound like a crab. I'm happy to help my friends and esteemed colleagues in any social media setting. But after a while it all seems so meaningless. If my peeps and I are tweeting and linking and friending and fanning and recommending each other over a range of networks, aren't we creating one giant echo chamber?

Twitter used to be the place where I forged new connections, and to some degree it still is, but as the popularity of the service has grown, so have the number of spammers. I receive dozens of new follower notifications each week, not because people have sought me out for my insight or wit, but because I've been recommended by some app. Life coaches, success coaches, wannabe porn stars, those who don't Tweet in English, or anyone who promises me a way to get rich quick need not apply. But they do. Every day.

I love the idea of unplugging and stepping away from a few days. "It will all be there when you get back," a friend advises. True, but instead of 110 emails awaiting me, I'll have 350. Buried once again.

Unplugging doesn't seem like a great idea, but then again, the more time I allow to catch up on social media, the further removed I get from real life, and that's no good. I don't know what the cure for social media overload is. If you do, let me know.

Original Post to Chicago Moms Blog.

When she's not responding to email, Tweeting, on Facebook or updating her LinkedIn profile, Kim blogs at Hormone-colored Days, writes about educational family travel at Traveling Mom, reviews products for The Full Mommy and consults on the connecting to online moms at Positive Impact, Inc. She occasionally pays attention to the people living in her house, too.

Photo credit: Babyjidesign