With each passing day, users are spending more and more time online. Studies often point to people’s dependence on the internet or their phones. Many people spend countless hours online, admitting that it prevents them from focusing on other productive activities, such as studying or working. Yet, it’s impossible to imagine modern business and work without the internet, remote work, and online services. So, where is the line between beneficial and enjoyable online activities and wasting time?
Define Your Goals
Setting specific tasks helps determine whether your time online is being spent usefully or aimlessly. The criterion here is simple: if you are moving towards achieving your set goal, then any actions that bring you closer to it are beneficial.
Sarah Williams, Head of Marketing at White Tower Studio, suggests this approach to achieving goals:
“It’s important to create a detailed plan for achieving any set goal and find tools that will help in its achievement. These tools can include social networks and messengers. The key is to spend time there consciously, not just endlessly scrolling through news feeds.”
What Are Useful Goals?
Besides business, work, or study, useful goals can include activities that lift your mood and interactions with positive people. These activities are beneficial for mental health, reduce stress, and increase daily work efficiency.
Vage Zakaryan, Head of Development at Gem Space superapp, adds:
“When developing an app, we assume that all functions are useful. It depends on the user, and they choose how to spend their time. You can’t say that video conferencing is a useful service, while a chatbot for creating postcards or information channels is something secondary or less useful.
You can run a channel successfully, monetize it, or simply have fun. A simple postcard can lift someone’s spirits and bring a lot of joy. We ourselves attribute the qualities and properties we want to see in the technical functionalities.”
Don’t Underestimate Hobbies
The internet helps not only in work but also in self-fulfillment. It offers a vast space for creativity where you can productively engage in your hobbies and even monetize them. You can find like-minded people or just individuals with similar interests to carry out joint projects or simply communicate.
You can create your blog, information channel, or make handmade items and sell them in your social media groups or on marketplaces. For those who love to communicate, creating video content is an option. In this case, creating your project is more beneficial than spending hours watching someone else’s content. Watching can be interesting, but it’s worth adjusting the time proportions.
How to Manage Your Time Effectively
Simple time management rules can help avoid time-wasting traps.
Firstly, allocate specific time for each task, activity, or stage. This helps you stay focused, and after completion, make sure to take a 15-minute break before moving on to the next activity.
Switching activities also helps reduce fatigue, maintain interest, and efficiency. By changing activities, you can achieve more in a day while tiring less than doing monotonous work.
Don’t forget to alternate the time you spend in virtual space with walks in the fresh air. They will add energy and strength throughout the day. Additionally, it’s advisable to devote at least some time each day to physical exercises. This will enhance your endurance and productivity.
If you have many tasks, prioritize them. Start with the most urgent and important ones, but occasionally tackle something from the secondary list; otherwise, you might never get to those plans, and they’ll have to be crossed off.
In any case, when choosing activities, rely on your feelings and desires. They will guide you in the right direction personally for you.