A few small licks are better than large shard making bites.

Or …

Quit Social Media. Your Career May Depend on It.

A millennial computer scientist, who also writes books and runs a blog, writes:

There are many issues with social media, from its corrosion of civic life to its cultural shallowness, but the argument I want to make here is more pragmatic: You should quit social media because it can hurt your career.

Andrew Sullivan may be giving advice from a perspective that is molded from doing social media without boundaries.

Let's be clear and realistic. Social media can be a tool or an addiction. Just because Mr. Sullivan believes it's best to leave social media behind, the reality is that many are successfully using it with predefined personal boundaries while seeing job benefits.

Rather than allowing it to consume every minute of their lives, some have discovered that social media can be used to quickly keep up to date with industry trends. Similar to an RSS feed, a social media feed that is well pruned and maintained, can enable business owners to reach new audiences while enhancing their service or product user experience.

Often problems result because some are more concerned with vanity numbers instead of quality and value. Following anyone, paying for followers, feeling like it's necessary to respond to every post (every day) leads to experiences that can be discouraging while molding views that are perhaps a little stretched from reality.

Abuse social media and yes, it can become a negative thing.

Like many others, I have personally enhanced my own education while staying up to date with valuable UX trends and tips simply by spending a few minutes in a well pruned newsfeed/timeline. I've met new business contacts and found new projects through social media.

Social media can be a quick way to dip into an interest graph and find job benefits.

As with most things in life, balance is key. Rather than encouraging people to give up on social media, why not find the tootsie roll at the center by taking a few small licks at a time rather than some huge bites of time consuming shards.

It's not rocket science – it's balance.

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