The web has crept into our lives to a degree that most of us couldn’t have fathomed just a few years ago. Go anywhere in public nowadays and take note of the percentage of people who are glued to their smartphones or tablets. We are each living our own reality, through apps and social media, customized to our whims through all of the personalization available on the web. There is an endless supply of whatever type of information and interactions that we want to consume.
Remember when growing up, our parents would try to limit the amount of television we were allowed to watch? If television was detrimental to us then, just think about how harmful the internet has the potential to be now, to both us and our kids.
What I think our parents had in mind back then, was not so much the negative impact of any particular television shows, but rather the notion that there were often better uses of our time than just watching hour after hour of sitcoms. The opportunities today to waste time online are so gigantic, it makes television look like the Stone Ages.
It’s really easy to waste time online. It’s really difficult to discipline yourself to be as efficient as possible. Consistently studying your Google Analytics data or committing to creating fresh content (of some sort) is not easy nor necessarily as enjoyable as reading your favorite websites or blogs. We are always told that working hard is a key ingredient in success. It no doubt is, but so is ferocious time management, which has become exponentially more difficult with all of the (time wasting) options that are in front of us each day. Stay focused on what’s important and the results will follow.
