How Many Days Can You Go Without Checking Email or Social Media?

Several weeks ago I decided to try a simple experiment. I opted to check email and social media accounts only three times in a week. I wanted to see what effect this less frequent, non-daily checking would have on my productivity and social connections. Many years ago when the web was a lot smaller and email was less popular, this would have been no big deal. In the mid 1990s I could get away with checking email a few times a week, even in business. People often didn’t expect a fast turnaround via email. If they needed a fast response, they’d use the phone. Today it’s become common, especially in the world of small business, to check email and/or social media several times per day at least. In some situations this seems justifiable. More frequent checking means faster turnaround for clients. Speed is classy, especially for customer service. Faster response times can give a business a competitive advantage. But this frequent checking doesn’t come for free. If you’re the one doing all of this checking, some of the drawbacks include: reduced ability to focus becoming urgency driven and losing sight of what’s important dealing with frequent distractions constantly having the thoughts of others floating through your mind becoming addicted and checking excessively, often without conscious thought reduced productivity diminished in-person social life losing the ability to properly prioritize messages spending much more time on messages than is re...
Source: Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog - Category: Life Coaches Authors: Tags: Balance Getting Things Done Goals & Goal Setting Productivity Self-Discipline Time Management Source Type: blogs