Today is the day I disabled FB notifications on my phone.
Recently I saw someone post about how Facebook is a procrastinator haven and it got me thinking. Without those notifications constantly bringing me to my phone, I’d probably get more done. I’ve learned to be mighty efficient despite my distractions, but learning to focus is only going to help once life gets even more complex.
It’s a weird feeling but I no longer see the benefit in keeping notifications on.
Unfortunately I need to keep Instagram & Messenger notifications on for work. Same thing with emails. Real time responses are sometimes necessary.
I just don’t “browse” those platforms much.
For the first time in a long time I realized there’s nothing on Facebook that requires me to answer immediately.
The only way to stop falling behind due to distraction is to develop better habits.
Most of my public Facebook interactions are a waste of time
I am so used to going on Facebook and habitually jumping into conversations.
Sometimes I come in with the best intentions. Others I am there to fight with strangers about nothing important. I’ll admit it, sometimes I’m lonely and the pseudo connections pacify me.
Most of the time, I should be doing something else and 15 minutes can disappear fast.
When controlled, this is no big deal. Here and there I take a break and it’s all fine and dandy. But then I get into a spicier debate.
My phone starts blowing up and what should have taken 15 minutes of planned waste turns into an hour. Then I have to play catchup for the rest of the day. It’s not very sustainable as my workload only seems to grow lately.
I developed a habit to answer everyone right away. This is not doing me any favours. If I want to play on social media responsibly, I need to really restrict my browsing time.
This is no simple feat.
I formed my habits when it was productive to keep social media open
I used to get paid to watch a company’s social media accounts.
Let me be clear, I wasn’t supposed to be on Facebook messing around.
I was on social media doing market research. I was auditing how other people posted. I was looking into the world of software and how they chose to manifest their online presence.
I also answered our company comments in real time.
Because of that job requirement, I got so used to answering people right away that checking Facebook became part of my existence. Whether it was for me or for work, the line got really blurry as the habit solidified.
What got locked in was that when the notification came, I would check it, then answer people right away in the pursuit of delighting others.
It’s been well over a year now that I don’t actually need to keep Facebook open all the time.
This old habit is no longer serving me and I need it to change.
It’s worth taking the time to watch your habits and see if there are ways to improve.
You get full control over the timeline on when you answer people
More and more I leave people “on read” by mistake.
I see the message come in, click the notification and make a mental note to answer when I can. Then 4 days go by and I get another message where I’m accused of being rude. In all fairness I probably am being rude but the cultural norm of expected responses is weird.
In some cases it is a matter of respect. We leave people on read to avoid dealing with things. Doing that is a little disrespectful, especially when it’s important.
Other times hustlers are hustling.
As I try to move notifications away, especially when driving, I accidentally click stuff. Or I try to expand the notification to see if I need to answer quickly, then the message opens. Only I’m driving or something so I close it fast so I don’t get pulled over.
I try and remember to follow up with each message but I fail. Then days later something triggers the memory of an unanswered person and I rush to follow up. This is very annoying to the people who are bored, or feel it’s urgent.
What’s worse is my computer is always on and Facebook is usually open so people see me as “online” when I am sound asleep.Either way, the way my life is going, it’s turning into a real “I’ll answer you when I can” vibe.
I’ve got no apologies for that.
I need to block distractions and focus more to create dedicated time to plan
Today I finally turned off the notifications for Facebook.
I will still habitually check my phone like a drug addict. I’m working on that too. I want to make sure that when it’s time to lock in on a task, I can lock in with the focus I once had.
I’m getting older and there is more to remember than ever before.
The wing-it era of my life is over.
Most days I am able to get my stuff done, but there are far too many mornings where instead of reading my book I get caught up in some social media drama.
I am definitely slipping on my reading goals.
Even this article writing, instead of being a morning activity has turned into a scramble it out in the evening vibe.
I end up chasing after forgotten chores so often I never sit down to plan.
This has been my problem this year. Those who interact with me will notice I’m tired and less full of joy. I have been on one hell of a grind.
Still I need to acknowledge again my failure to sit there and plan. Without a sense of planning, we lose scope of PRSPCTVS and priority.
There are projects I meant to work on I forgot about because I was too busy chasing the commitment I made last week without thinking.
Blocking social media notifications is a huge step to not getting distracted.
Time management includes social activities and time waste when done correctly
A lot of the time people view a planned life as one without joy or freedom.
For me it’s the opposite. When I can get all my chores and tasks done in a day, I unlock the rest & recreation part of the day. When I chose to chill out earlier in the day, pushing off chores, because of a Facebook debate, I made the choice to “rest” then.
In order to make this work I need to plan for Facebook time. Or at least time to check all my notifications and answer some comments. I need to learn to keep those tabs closed during the day.
Most importantly I need to take the time to get organized again.
Everything feels so cluttered. Giant weekend tasks like, prepare a year’s worth of taxes for a starting business, throw me off of my regular commitments. Even right now, I’m wondering when I’m actually going to practice my songs for my May 18th performance.
This is why the distraction demons are problematic.
Every minute wasted is something that has to be made up for later.
This probably means staying home on an evening, sacrificing potential revenue. Sometimes that kind of choice needs to be made. Maintaining your plan is as necessary as grooming and cleaning.
Anyway I’m writing this one to force accountability on myself.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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