By Jennifer Henderson
Three years ago, I wrote a blog post for Clear Message Media about social media information overload. At the time, I was busy keeping up with my four-year-old daughter while trying to manage my freelance writing/editing career. And I was feeling overwhelmed with information–from social media, email, internet, etc., etc.!
Fast forward three years and not much has changed. My daughter is now seven and I am still freelancing. And, like many others, I am STILL overwhelmed with information. I feel like I’m constantly “plugged-in” to technology, trying to keep up with all of the information constantly coming my way.
That’s why I thought it would be good to revisit my blog post and provide an update with some tips and new tools that may help us feel a little less overwhelmed.
Tame the inbox. My gmail account is unruly. I get so much spam, promotions, and newsletters. Some of that information is helpful, but a lot of the emails I just ignore and they clutter my inbox. I then get frustrated when I can’t find the emails I really do need.
AARP recently published an article that provides great tips for working smarter and getting a handle on emails. The article points to Unroll.Me, a free tool that automatically sends the mass emails you receive from retailers and other marketers into a single daily email. I am definitely going to try that!
Another tool that I find helpful is Trello.com. Trello is free and (as the company states) “provides boards, lists, and cards that enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way.” At a previous job, a lot of us were finding that it was hard to keep track of to-do items that were emailed. So, we implemented Trello and it cut down on emails. For instance, when my boss had something she wanted me to do, she would add it to my Trello board instead of emailing me. It was a much easier, and more efficient, way to manage tasks. After I finished the task, I could then move it into a “completed” list, which was especially satisfying.
Schedule your time online. My husband is a professor and each semester as an extra-credit assignment he asks students to track what they do with their time. The students are always amazed at the amount of time they spend on social media.
It is important to limit time online, because, as we all know, it can make us feel more overwhelmed and time can get away from us very quickly. It can also be distracting and according to Neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin, can constitute “a neural addiction.”
The AARP article highlights software called RescueTime that tracks how you are spending time on your computer and mobile devices, then provides a report. It also allows you to block certain sites or alert you if you’ve spent a certain amount of time online. I think I definitely need to use this tool!
Do you feel overwhelmed with information, too? If so, how do you manage it all? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.
