With a child, one thing I’ve learned is the value of quiet – but not the ‘thank goodness, he’s asleep’ attitude, but the deeper one, of knowing when to turn the Twitter and email, and TV and radio and everything OFF.
Quiet, even for a Twitter fan like me, I’ve learned, is quite all right.
A recent post from Brent Cox Twitter And The Death Of Quiet Enjoyment, via @thefetch, reminded me of how my Twitter habits have changed for four reasons:
- I have WAY less time now with a child – and if I had a choice, would I rather be spending time reading ‘Where Is The Green Sheep‘ or something else….;
- I have got over my worry about missing out on the most important piece of Twitter content I could ever imagine by being offline more often;
- I use Twitter lists much more effectively, and once a month I spend time going through those I follow and frankly, try and keep my number of people I follow at a manageable number;
- I got over my ‘I won’t pre-tweet stuff out’ attitude and use Buffer daily. Admittedly it’s still at times when I’m highly likely to be online anyway, but once a week I take time to read my Favo[u]rites and then share them via Buffer. The good thing is too you can see what works in terms of clicks and retweets and mentions so it’s easy to tweak your tweeting to maximise your effectiveness.
It’s one thing to spend time on Twitter; it’s another to use it to your needs. Over time, I think, I’ve tweeted less, am spending more time these days sharing, and dipping in and out for more specific needs. As life has changed, so has my Twittering.
But it’s gone further than Twitter. With a number of email accounts for work, I now have notifications off at certain times on weekends for the accounts and it’ll be a rare night where you’ll find me tweeting like mad, unless food has been had, book has been read, and bath had…and we continue that constant quest for the green sheep!
The other day we had one our cars serviced and for whatever reason the stereo in the car was reset. I’m sure I could get the manual, pop in the code and away we go – radio on. But I have decided for the time being not to. The quiet is good, it’s only ever me in this car when I drive it anyway, and I’ve quickly found the silence to be, well, music to my ears….! (and what an appalling pun that is).
There is ‘noise’ – and there is sound. We’ve already turned the TV off now when we’re not actually in front of it. Music (and that’s you SBS Chill!) on the TV is fine; and my son seems to be quite okay with it. As a new Dad, cluttering ‘noise’ has become something to minimise, and ‘sound’ – be it a happy chortle or a contended snore from my son, has become much important.
If anything, I think I’m more productive these days. Emails get done, posts edited and published, calls made and the important things done. It’s all a matter of doing first things first, and knowing why.
And I still love you Twitter…. just don’t expect to compete with the Green Sheep…..!
Image courtesy memfox.com