We are a technology-obsessed society that is ever connected and present online. Short of choosing to live off the grid, this web of interconnected people and devices is a part of our day-to-day life. Instead of un-plugging I would suggest that we all need to become curators of our digital lives. Below are some quick tips on how to do this well. The goal of curating your digital world is to stay informed and connected in less time than you are spending now.
There are 2 ways to curate your Facebook feed. I currently have over 1200 ‘friends’ on facebook and am not interested in what 90% of them are up to on a daily basis, yet I don’t feel that doing a friend purge is appropriate (many of these are people I have met through leading ministries or through work/school). If they want to connect with me I want them to be able to.
#1 – Unsubscribe
Facebook quietly introduced this feature in the middle of 2011 and it is amazing. It allows you to unsubscribe from everything a friend of yours posts, yet you still remain friends. This is perfect because it drastically cleans up your primary Facebook feed.
To unsubscribe click on the upper right of a post (the down arrow), select ‘Hide…’, then click on ‘Change what updates you get from ____’ and finally select ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom.
#2 – Lists
Facebook also allows you to organize your friends into lists. I have a list setup for family, work collogues, seminary friends, and one list for each church that I have been a part of. These lists make it easy for me to quickly check up on what is going on in the different spheres of my life. Learn all about Facebook Lists.
Sites like Digg and Reddit
There isn’t an easy way to curate these services since they present curated content to you. The best advice that I have is to set time limits for yourself. I do this best when there is a meeting/appointment coming up. That way I can give myself 10 minutes to look through sites like this and avoid the amazing time-suck that these sites can be. It is really easy to sit down and all of a sudden you’re on the 10th page of Reddit and you’ve lost two hours of time.
YouTube (and other video sharing sites)
While I don’t spend a lot of time on video sharing sites, the potential to lose vast quantities of time is mind-boggling. YouTube receives many day’s worth of new content every minute. The trouble with these sites is that videos can each be 10-15 minutes long. I love the TED videos but have had to stop watching them because of the length and sheer number of them. My best advice is to subscribe to channels relevant to your interests, and be judicious in what you choose to watch.
The second part of our Curation series is coming tomorrow: Part 2
Photo Credit: basykes
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