Writing Time vs. Social Media

Imagine no social media. No posting, no tweeting, sharing, liking, commenting, and—

Wait a minute. Wouldn’t that leave you with a mess of time on your hands (or at your fingertips)? What would you do? Actually interact with people? Take up a constructive hobby? How about writing?

Think about it. You could spend all of that newly generated time writing, plotting, character developing, attending writing groups, and submitting manuscripts to magazines, literary agents, and publishers.

Let’s break it down.

Statistics report that people spend an hour a day on social media (it’s probably a lot more than that for many). This does not include other online activities such as shopping, games, reading news, and watching TV (what used to be known as the plug-in drug). So, what exactly could you do with your writing with an extra 365 hours over the course of a year?

Well for starters, twelve of them could be spent participating in a writing group once a month where you’ll get constructive feedback, learn some new writing techniques, and as a side bonus, make some friends.

Imagine for a moment you write just 500 words for each of the 365 hours. That’s 182,500 words in a year. That’s four good-sized novels!

After you’ve gotten your novels edited (you do use an editor, don’t you?) you can spend time marketing the old fashion way—telling everybody in person about your books.

You can also devote some of those newfound hours to reading. After all, reading and writing go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly (unless you have a peanut allergy, then maybe not). Imagine finally getting through that massive pile of “to-be-read” books on your night stand or swiping left as you turn page after page through numerous books on your Kindle?

Another bonus: People who read often tend to do better in school, in the business world, and drum roll please…become better writers. It’s true, I read it somewhere!

There’s still plenty of hours left, so why not attend some seminars on writing? Go to a writer’s conference and mingle with other writers while learning how to sharpen your craft, land an agent, or write tighter (using fewer words to make your point is better than using excessive words, or should that be fewer words equals better writing?)

So, how would you spend all those extra hours if there were no social media?

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Keep Writing!