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How do you manage your time online?

I received last Friday, multiple times, an invitation to do some blog reading homework at the weekend, an idea suggested by livesofteachers. Now I like reading blogs and I like Darren's blog but one thing I won't do (I realise I have a free choice and this was only a suggestion) is do 'homework' at the weekend.

I have been thinking about writing a work-life balance blog for a while now, as it seems very easy to be sucked into always being online. When I first started using twitter I found it very addictive and I wanted to log in all the time, in case I missed something. Gradually, I realised that a lot of twitter usage is socialising that's irrelevant to me and I'm not really interested in stroking some tefl big-shot's ego. As a result, I have made a conscious effort to be online less and use online time well, not browse around aimlessly wasting my time. Blogs, of course, aren't as immediate as twitter and it's easier to keep up without being there all the time.

At times in the past I have been 'addicted' to a computer game. There are various around that have this capacity, but my drug of choice was Football Manager, sometimes nicknamed 'The Divorcer', due to it's effect on relationships. When my girlfriend mentioned that maybe I'd like to spend some time talking to her, rather than on twitter and perhaps do some cleaning occasionally, I thought about it and was reminded of the aforementioned game.

There is a time for being online and a time to enjoy other things. As teachers, we teach, therefore we have to prepare for classes, mark work, do administrative tasks and attend meetings and workshops; so the online stuff is in our free-time. Where's the time for friends, family, exercise, relaxation and travelling? Well, for me, that's the weekend (as well as a few other times during the week, to be honest). At the weekend I don't want to read blogs, or tweet or even be on the computer (unless I'm checking football results or watching a game online), I want to enjoy my free-time, away from the computer. We all need a break; if I don't do this, I'll go nuts and to me time management is very important, because I can be fairly disorganised.

My advice is this, use Delicious to bookmark good sites you come across; use instapaper to save an article you'd like to read when you have more time; develop a list of blogs you really want to read and set up rss feeds. Also, be efficient with your time online, decide when you have the time, stick to that time and don't do homework at the weekend.

The sun is shining in Spain, I want to be outside.

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