Hi, my name is Dave and I am a “Mediaholic”

Just recently I heard about a person who had  700 Facebook friends but knew none of the neighbors. It seems that an increasing number of leaders are spending insane amounts of time on any number of social media venues (Twitter, Facebook, My Space, to name a few). 

Add to this that the creating, responding to and filing of hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of daily emails composes a huge part of the average leader’s day.  Has it gone too far? Are we spending too much time at our computers and too little time connecting with real people in real time? Some of us can’t let the phone alone when we are aware that a voice message or email has just arrived.

I have watched leaders at a dinner, in a home with a few people, or in a meeting, respond and begin emailing or twittering and ignore the people they are sitting with. When that happens regularly, you know you have a serious addiction.

I know I have work to do on this as I am a workaholic and love to see things get done and wrapped up.

Email, Twitter, Facebook, etc. have become a social addiction of enormous proportions among leaders.

If it is your intention to do the real work of producing and “shipping” things that really matter, whether it is a product or a service, you are going to have to be honest with your screen time (social media and email) and ask yourself if it is truly helping you lead well and impact people.

When the time has come (and for some of us it has already arrived) that social media is a significant (perhaps approaching dangerous?) portion of each day, it may be time to take charge of your time and your addiction and pull some plugs.

You are the steward of your time and your days before the Lord. Are you being proactive or reactive in how you lead and use your time?

Are you using social media wisely and proportionately, as a tool, or have you become its bond-slave?