I can twitter with celebrities. Facebook grammar school friends. Network. Network. Network. Social media has made staying in touch with people a snap, granting access to those we wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

So what’s the problem?

As much as I enjoy the hilarious links Ashton Kutcher serves up, keeping up with the @Joneses is not all that easy. It’s like dirty laundry. There’s just no end.

To visualize my point, here are some sample to-do lists. The first is what I call a BSM (Before Social Media) to-do list:

And the second is, of course, an ASM (After Social Media) list:

The thing is, the after list doesn’t magically make the before to-dos go away. So maybe I can tweet out if anyone has a casserole recipe they’d recommend, but nobody can water my plants for me (as my wilted plants would hope.)

And all the incessant communication is so distracting that it can make it harder to get “real” things done. But I’d argue that it’s the mundane “real” things like grocery shopping and school activities that make social media interactions so much more interesting. So don’t ignore your BSM to-dos in favor of your ASM ones. At least, not all the time. Because sometimes you have to do the dishes. Other times, it’s best to ignore the crusty casserole pan in the sink.