The time and place of social networking in our lives

Over the last few weeks, if not months, I've struggled with finding time to get all that needs to be done at work (and home too I guess) done. These last 2 weeks I've found time from somehwere and it's been great to have that sense of achievement - of being able to contribute where I'd like to be contributing. Though I do sense the fog closing in soon.
The oft' cried complaint is that we simply have no time for things - we're busy getting the job done, using loads of social networking tools and other technologies to enhance our work flows and processes and yet we find that there's still more to do each day. Yesterday I found myslef scrambling to accept that 5 o'clock had come round, I simply wasn't ready for it - still so much left to do and the day had gone (still trying to work out where it went - think it may have gone fishing with the rest of my family out on the river.....). In this current clime we're being asked to do more with less, and less. New technologies help us achieve these results but we still need the time to get used to how they operate, else we look foolish (or worse). By taking the time out to write this blog post I delay getting another task completed. By attending an all-day meeting tomorrow I delay getting even more stuff done, yet I need to go to the meeting in order to achieve other outcomes. Just as I need to keep contributing to my blog in order to restore my skills and abilities. The benefit is there, it'll just take a little while to filter through as a benefit.

Perhaps that's what we forget most when spending precious moments using social networking tools, contributing to blogs and wikis and nings and so on - there is a benefit to this activity, it isn't necessarily immediate and whilst it may take a little while for that benefit to filter through, the act of contributing and collaborating with others on the journey is certainly felt and appreciated.
I look back and see that it's over 12 months since I last wrote in this space and yet here I am - I have written in other spaces and explored other avenues but it's certainly rewarding to come back and look over my journey and know it's been a worthwhile one.