Are you one of these people who spends lots of time on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? Do you find it hard to go more than a few hours without checking who has been in touch? Do you often get told that you spend too much time online? Being a social media addict is actually ok as long as you are feed your addiction intelligently.

Some people chose to communicate by spending hours on the phone each evening. Some people are unable to drag themselves away from their emails. Some people send thousand of texts each month. Some people talk so much they give themselves, and everyone around them, headaches. They are all communicating in the way they choose. Social media is just another form of communication that you have chosen.

As long as you don’t allow it to detract from the value of other forms of communication then it shouldn’t be a problem. If you find yourself taking three days to reply to an email from a work colleague or a text from your Mum then it may be time to take a step back and think about what you are doing. If relationships are being weakened rather than strengthened then then same applies. More often than not though a balanced approach works best and being able to communicate effectively in lots of different ways is surely a good thing.

The real addiction that most of us have is wanting to talk to people. That’s not a bad thing. It’s better than being hooked on watching Star Trek re-runs alone most evenings.

What do you think? Are you an intelligent addict?

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