Personal Learning Update

I was relieved to take a few hours of respite from all things social media during the storms this evening. I have always followed a few blogs and kept up-to-date with my personal Facebook news feed, but Twitter has taken my need form immediate information access to a whole new level. I have set up several class-related tabs in Google Chrome for : my student e-mail, Sakai, my class Facebook account, Twitter, Google Reader, and my final project wiki. Every few minutes (literally) I find myself refreshing each tab and scanning for new pieces of information. When I encounter something of interest, I open a new tab and explore it further.

Twitter has undoubtedly been at the root of most of these 'extra tabs.' It is awesome in one sense because I am discovering so much more than I ever would have before, but, at the same time, I can feel myself becoming dependent on these tools - and not in a healthy way. It's almost as if social media is a reward system. New knowledge discovery enriches my experiences and provides me with positive reinforcement, while the idea that I might be missing out on information while partaking in other activities (like sleep) acts as a form of negative reinforcement.

Any suggestions for how I can keep up without becoming addicted?

(Vasan/Getty)