Is social media good for work/life balance?
In my last post about online identities, one commenter alluded to the positive/negative implications of social media for work-life balance. I’m curious about what the differences and similarities might be for people using social media in relation to their work interests who are in front line and administration/management roles respectively. What does it mean for a balance between the personal and professional and the implications for our own wellbeing? I bring a particular perspective as a manager working in a corporate role. @Ermintrude2 brings a perspective from her role working as a social worker in a community mental health team. Here’s our conversation… @VictoriaBetton – I’m interested how our use of social media influences work/life balance and how we keep them separate or merge them together. So my first question is about time. Time spent on social media is time not spent elsewhere. Social media implodes temporal and spatial limitations – we can connect with people all over the globe either in real-time or through snatches of conversation throughout the day (or night). I mostly use social media in relation to my associated work and academic interests, which mean 9-5 parameters collapse. Interestingly, my web search of social media and work/life balance largely focused on people using social media for personal purposes during work time. This is probably the opposite for both of us. What are your thoughts? @Ermintrude2 – Good point. I think it depends what I consider work and what I consider life! I expect my own boundaries might not be the same as other people’s. My use of social media during hours I am employed to be...Blog yourself well – why mental health services should support citizen journalism
Last week saw the launch of Leeds’ first blog about mental health and wellbeing in Leeds. It is called Leeds Wellbeing Web: your voice on keeping well in Leeds. The purpose of the blog is to provide a space where people can contribute information, stories, pictures or films about places and activities in Leeds which help maintain their wellbeing. The blog aims to encourage us to think more positively and proactively about mental health and wellbeing. It’s about giving people a voice to tell their own stories, and the story of their city, through their own eyes. It an open resource which anyone with mental health difficulties can contribute to. The idea for the blog was conceived by Katie Brown and then supported and developed by a number of individuals and organisations in Leeds who were committed to the idea of creating a space where people can share information and ideas about mental health and wellbeing in the city. The idea of citizen journalism isn’t a new one. Its principles include open participation and communal evaluation. A blog is just a starting point. Each post is refined and developed through subsequent comments. Knowledge is produced collectively and collaboratively. There is generally a social motivation rather than a commercial one. Alex Bruns in his book Blogs, Wikipedia. Second life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage (2008) has an interesting chapter on citizen journalism that’s worth a read. He introduces the notion of produsage where the line between production and consumption is blurred. Bruns argues that citizen journalism represents a shift from mainstream commercial news journalism where the article tends to...about.me
Victoria Betton
victoria betton
director mHabitat | NHS | social media & mental health doctorate | interested in digital inclusion | parma violets fiend | http://codesigndigitalhealth.co.uk
