In this day of cell phones, MySpace, WiFi, Facebook, Bluetooth, I-Phones, and email, it is amazing how little real communication we have! I read an article a couple of years ago which basically stated that Americans have less friends today than they did in the 1940s and 1950s. In this age of connections, we seem to have few if any real friendships. That is sad, and it is not the way God intended for us to live.
I am the worst of the worst. I feel that I need to stay in contact with everyone, which means that I really do not get to know anyone! Only recently have I started praying about which relationships God would like me to put time and energy into. I often ask myself the following questions:
1. How do we stay connected to our friends without getting overloaded by acquaintances?
2. How do we build the relationships God is calling us to without feeling like we need to be everyone's best friend?
While these questions would probably require an entire volume to answer incompletely, here are a few tips I found for staying within the parameters:
1. Do not make connections on any social networking website with people you do not know. This is just e-common sense for safety as well as simplicity.
2. Do not have internet friendships with people that you really do not care to stay in contact with.
3. Go through your phone and delete obsolete contacts. I recently deleted from my phone the numbers I saved when preparing for my wedding. I no longer need the baker's phone number; she made the cake, we ate it, and it was delicious.
4. Go through your email contacts and delete those that you no longer need. When I did this, I found several email addresses for people that I could not remember!
5. Consolidate your social networking. Can you just use one site? Do you really need to check Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter every hour?
6. Make your desk wireless, or organize the wires into some sort of a system. One article I read suggested using binder clips. See the complete article here: http://lifehacker.com/5513009/top-10-ways-to-declutter-your-digital-life-2010-edition
Like most decluttering, it is an ongoing process, but I have found that when I do not worry about staying in contact with everyone, or staying up on everyone's life, I have more time and energy to focus on the people God placed in my life for a purpose. That is such a joy!
I am the worst of the worst. I feel that I need to stay in contact with everyone, which means that I really do not get to know anyone! Only recently have I started praying about which relationships God would like me to put time and energy into. I often ask myself the following questions:
1. How do we stay connected to our friends without getting overloaded by acquaintances?
2. How do we build the relationships God is calling us to without feeling like we need to be everyone's best friend?
While these questions would probably require an entire volume to answer incompletely, here are a few tips I found for staying within the parameters:
1. Do not make connections on any social networking website with people you do not know. This is just e-common sense for safety as well as simplicity.
2. Do not have internet friendships with people that you really do not care to stay in contact with.
3. Go through your phone and delete obsolete contacts. I recently deleted from my phone the numbers I saved when preparing for my wedding. I no longer need the baker's phone number; she made the cake, we ate it, and it was delicious.
4. Go through your email contacts and delete those that you no longer need. When I did this, I found several email addresses for people that I could not remember!
5. Consolidate your social networking. Can you just use one site? Do you really need to check Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter every hour?
6. Make your desk wireless, or organize the wires into some sort of a system. One article I read suggested using binder clips. See the complete article here: http://lifehacker.com/5513009/top-10-ways-to-declutter-your-digital-life-2010-edition
Like most decluttering, it is an ongoing process, but I have found that when I do not worry about staying in contact with everyone, or staying up on everyone's life, I have more time and energy to focus on the people God placed in my life for a purpose. That is such a joy!
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