How To Have A Livejournal And Stay Alive

[visualthinker11]

So I'm back at college, and I haven't had time to check my lj in a few days. Which shouldn't be a big deal, but trying to catch up with my f-list after all this was very intimidating. So here's my new plan

Comments

[filminspired]

I understand what you're saying, once school starts up for me, I'm going to be way busy with school, work and friends so I have been narrowing my flist down with people I actually talk to and talk back to me. It's easier to keep up with and it leaves the entries that I'm actually going to read.

[visualthinker11]

exactly. it just seems like the easiest thing to do. : P

plus, school is so time-consuming. in a good way, mostly.

[tree00faery]

Ugh, I know what you mean.

I've found that it's impossible for me to stay away from LJ. Instead, I pretty much have to check it regularly. If I don't, it really piles up. Even days when I'm really busy, I do at least one quick email/LJ/news check. That way it doesn't pile up so much. Also, don't be afraid not to read everything! I'm watching a lot of communities that I usually just skim. I certainly don't read everything that gets posted. ^_^ If I'm really in a hurry I'll view my flist through an 'actual people' filter.

Hope that helps!

[visualthinker11]

it does, thanks! : )

[lavastar]

I totally know what you mean - I got to a point where I just had waaaay too many communities that I was watching, like icon comms, and fic comms, and fandom comms, and random not-fandomy comms, that my flist was huge as crap and as RL and other stuff got busier I just didn't have time for it.

So I decided to take everything off my flist that wasn't a fandom/fic/RL friend. It was meant to be temporary until I could get my shit together, but I find it much more relaxing and have just kept it that way. I might eventually add a few comms back, but for now it's nice to know that there's not a bunch of shit to scroll past - everything on my flist is something I'm going to read.

Hope it works out for you!

[visualthinker11]

thanks- your story is so inspiring! (it's inspiring in a slightly ridiculous, why-is-the-internet-my-life-ack way, but still very uplifting.) : )

[lavastar]

Haha, glad I could help! Basically whatever you decide to do I think it's definitely important to keep in mind that you really don't have to read everything on your friend's page, and that even if you don't want to cut stuff out you can always just take a break from it and only read the important stuff.

[ostentfly_by]

Once classes start I usually get bad at checking LJ too. The only way for me to keep it up regularly is if I make checking it a routine, like early after I wake up or at night before I go to bed. Of course it can take a while to read and check everything, so that's difficult if there's lots of reading and studying to do...

[visualthinker11]

it's the same with me. i'm trying to stop the routine part of it, though, and i don't want it to be so hard for me to get back into lj after i take a few days off. : P

[jamie55]

That's totally fair - to be honest I usually ignore most of my flist's entries once school starts. Too much to do. In fact I probably should be online right now.... 8/

hehe...

[visualthinker11]

it's nice to know i'm not alone in ignoring things for school. i mean, i guess you have to have priorities, i just hate feeling rude or whatnot.

thanks for the support! : )