I want you all to hear me out here. I know we have a community and we enjoy reading eachother's posts and blogs and personal stuff, but when is it too much? When is there too much involvement with really, strangers?
I just joined Twitter and yes, it is nice to know you all better, I love friendliness and community and us to have interest in each other, it is very sweet. We rally when someone is being tormented by an author, and when we get sad news about one of our fellow community members. But when does it get weird? When does it become a substitute for personal human contact?
I have heard it said that in this generation we are much more likely to feel we know complete strangers online better than we know our own neighbors! I know, I know we have the glorious common bond of books here between us right?? And you all are the most supportive group, but when is it too much?
I know we are most likely all super healthy individuals who have tons of time that we spend with real-life folks in our community and I know that the book blogging community that we love is a very positive one, so please understand that....I just wonder about our kids, our husbands, our families, when we leave work, get dinner, and read and blog and comment...are there time limit boundaries we set up so that we take a step back and can be in true reality without constantly checking our blog comments?
I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and I know that you can have too much of a good thing (take chocolate for example, or review copies if you wish!) I am trying to lay a balance, set up something for me that will work. Since joining Twitter I have felt more connected, but also more involved than I really should be. Not on an emotional level or anything like that, but it just takes so much time to give that much and my kids are little! I don't want to be short with them or annoyed because they are cutting into "my blogging time"!
What do you think? Have you set up boundaries so that your family will not be affected negatively because of the time commitment that this community can be? A certain number of hours? Two times a day? What are your limits? What is your advice?
