That’s a line I think I heard Merlin Mann say once in a podcast.

And the way I see it, there are two sides to Social Me-me-media:

• There’s the narcissistic, naval-gazing, ego-centric side. How many followers do I have? Did that popular person follow me back? Has anyone @replied to me, retweeted me, or faved my tweets in the past 30 minutes?

• And then there’s the fighting-against-the-potential-time-sink side. What’s a reasonable number of followers for me to have? How many interruptions am I willing or able to allow? How much time do I want to spend here? How much value am I getting? How much value am I giving?

It is oh so easy to get sucked into the first side and never think once about the second. But now that you are thinking about it, why not give yourself permission to unfollow whomever you want without worrying about hurting their feelings. And to check in, link in, post a picture, or update your status less often without the fear that you’ll be forgotten about.

Make social media about you — not your ego.