Facebook – a fun source of distractions

It’s early morning. I’m writing an email to a client when I hear a beep: another email coming in. It’s from my family – via Facebook.
It may be important so I finish what I’m working on and log on to Facebook.

It’s a good-news message. I’m happy about it and send a short answer back to let them know I’ll call over the weekend.
We can talk then – I’ll have more time.

Instead of going back to work I decide to take another 5 minutes and see what my friends have posted lately.
There is a thank you from my fifth-grader friend.
(I’ve sent her a birthday wish and attached a photo of Sunny and Flipper. She likes them a lot.)

I’m smiling – the post got a “like” from my brother too.
Every post that has a photo of my feathered kids gets a “like” from him. He is drooling after Sunny and Flipper.
For years he’s been trying to convince me to bring them along when I visit.
It’s not going to happen – international travel would be too stressful for them.

Cute. And cuter.
Someone posted a HuffPost video of cats and “their stealthy cucumber stalkers.” Funny!
Then a video of super dads and their children. Adorable toddlers!

I’m about ready to go back to work when I see a video from The Animal Rescue Site: Kitty loves her puppy.
Of course I’m going to watch that!
So beautiful. And heart-warming.

Next post: a cat in the mail box, looking mighty pleased with herself.

The caption reads: “Mailman jumped 15 feet. Dog was right. This is fun.”

Great source of distraction
I’m looking at the time. My 5 minutes break has now expanded to half an hour.
Social media is part of our lives. It helps us communicate with one another.
But it’s also a great source of distraction.

Solutions
A good remedy for this is to decide how many breaks you get per day. And the total time allowed.
When one of your breaks becomes longer than intended, you know what you need to do for the next break.
(Make it shorter.)

Also remember: taking a break isn’t bad. Especially if it’s used as a reward for getting things done.

Mariana Fieraru

Mariana Fieraru, an Eastern European transplant, fell in love with her new home shortly after landing in New York. She "discovered" pizza! Years later she still loves pizza. And so do her two feathered-kids, Sunny and Flipper

Mariana worked on both, the east and the west coast.
Big or small, each project she worked on helped define the importance of gaining and sustaining a competitive edge in an increasingly complex business environment.

Business know-how, love of teaching and writing – all combined in 2006 to form OBI.
Its mission: to make learning fun! And easy.

Through its training, consulting, and publications OBI builds bridges of knowledge to take you from where you are to
where you want to go. Using a mix of serious, informal, analytical, and optimistic approach, OBI truly makes learning fun.

Learn More