by spokesphoto at dreamstime.com

Much is being written about the social media time sink. How do I know? I visit the websites of the @newfriends popping up on my TweetDeck. That’s how I found Waste Time on This, not That by Kristin Tennant. Kristin suggests ways to add actual face-to-face to the mix of pinning, tweeting and posting. I have enough trouble managing this bourgeoning daily workout without meet ups for coffee or game night, but I take her point.

I’m in learning mode. I hope this will get easier. Like every new venture there are upsides and downsides. I choose carefully which media to follow. One happy choice is Relevant Magazine. I want to know what young Christian people are thinking. A forum post put me in touch with John Tibbs, a 21-year-old music and worship pastor with opinions about the form and content of modern church worship.  I’m heartened that young people are wrestling with these issues from inside the church walls.

On the downside, how am I attracting the likes of @pattyporn? Okay, I made up the name. You can Google to see if there really is such a person but I’m not going there. I’m not sure anymore what tickers in sidebar lists on the social media sites around the world and what escapes notice. Fortunately, I noticed the BLOCK button in my @ Me column and cleaned up my list of followers; now there are six, unless I can count the thousands of followers of Taxi, a design site that follows me.

I’m still working out the value of this whole endeavor. It does put you in touch with people and ideas you might not otherwise encounter, good ones and bad ones. It also channels an inner ADHD I didn’t know I had. If you have ideas on taming Twitter and friends, please share.