Social Media: A Time Saver

Often times we think about social media as being the ever so addictive online world where we can Facebook stalk people’s entire lives, wish we could be as witty as some Tweeters in 140 characters or less, watch stupidly entertaining YouTube videos about cats, and convince ourselves that we are not procrastinating doing whatever we are supposed to be doing even though, well, we are.

What if I told you that all of your social media browsing, well maybe not the cat videos, but all of that Facebook stalking and retweeting and Instagram liking was actually not a waste of your time? Don’t believe me? Read on, grasshopper.

According to Erik Qualman, author of the book Socialnomics, "Spending time on social media makes you more productive. Social media is the mechanism that allows users to avoid information indigestion."​

You see, social media is a global movement for not only connecting people with other people, but connecting people with an infinite stream of content and allowing them the ability to digest it all.

On the personal level, platforms like Facebook allow us to create a digital scrapbook of our lives for friends and family and even strangers to passively keep up to date with. This is helpful for when you read a post by your boss about how he was in the hospital last weekend from an allergic reaction to chocolate, you know what to leave off of his Christmas list.

On a professional level, social networking sites like LinkedIn allow us to build our professional networks with professionals we meet in passing, at the office, or connect via other professional friends in mutual networks. So when you are interviewing for that dream job and want to prepare yourself, you can now stalk the entire professional career of your interviewer with the click of a button and use the time saved to make sure you look presentable with a good night’s rest.

On a global level, platforms like Twitter allow us to read about natural disasters, terrorist attacks, royal weddings, viral dance videos etc. in short, real-time posts. Video sharing platforms like YouTube let us witness all of these events first-hand, whether the footage was shot by CNN’s man on the ground during the Syrian protests or a bystander with a smartphone camera, you get the edited and unedited versions of the news.

We filter through all of this social media content on a daily basis, and we probably don’t even realize just how much information we are absorbing because of how second-nature scrolling through ones’ social feed has become. But yes, those fifteen minutes you spent on Facebook at the doctor’s office could have told you all of this and more, making you not only well-informed but also well-educated of the ongoings in the world around you.

Now that you have had the realization that you may actually be learning something from what you thought was seemingly mindless social media activity, in what area of your life do you think social media has benefited you the most? Personal? Professional? Global awareness?

Sound off in the comments below!

Articles from Forbes.com & HowStuffWorks.com. Video courtesy of CNN.

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