An article in Psychological Science states that people who are made to think about time, plan to spend more of their time with the people in their lives while people who think about money fill their schedules with work.

How does this fit in with our use of social media ? With many of us socializing with both friends and relatives online, the majority of our interactions with others are virtual. Some of our most important social skills are not being developed as we deal less with others in a one on one environment. Our Twitter and Facebook conversations verge on abrupt and quite often we fit these conversations in while we are working.

How would this skew the results of the the findings in the above article? While some may have no choice as to their options to keep in touch with far off relatives and friends, the rest of us live in the same town or city as those we are conversing with online. Many of us seem to prefer this method of socializing as it gives us time to prepare our conversation or reply rather than having to say things on the spur of the moment and relate to one another as we would if we were to meet in person.

I think our methods of spending time with others have changed as we want to have our time for work and our time for socializing without giving up one for the other. What has also changed is the quality of each. Less focus on our work as we carry on Facebook conversations while in a meeting. Less focus on those close to us as we fit them into our busy work day by sending them a message online. What do you think?

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. ~ Carl Sandburg

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