I was there a few months ago and it's taken a while to recover from it. The experience has left me with some advice I can share:
Understand what you are using Social Media for
Is this a tool you are using for work? If so, how many working hours are you devoting to it? Keep a log of your on line interactions (to the minute) and calculate, at the end of the week, how many hours were spent interacting on Social Media sites (Tweeter, FriendFeed, Digg, etc.). This log will help put into perspective how much productivity hours are spent on fostering your social media relations and at the same time, help you with the next point:
Evaluate your "return of investment"
Ask yourself why you are engaging in social media in the first place. Now that you know how many hours a week you are devoting to Social Media, you need to evaluate if the time spent is giving you anything in return or if it is just an excuse to park yourself in the procrastination zone. Some of the return will not be quantifiable (there is no way to assign value to acquired knowledge, for example), but in general, you should have a clear idea of what all these interactions have left you (sales prospects, business relations, trade event invitations, etc.). If you are not getting anything quantifiable as a result of your Social Media interactions, it's time for some soul searching regarding the use of your time to achieve business goals.
Identify the essential tools of your trade
You've kept the log for at least a week, evaluated your return of investment, now it's time to identify those applications that are absolutely essential to what you do. Are you in HR? Then probably your must have is <!--/*--><![CDATA[/* ><!--*/ <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> /*--><!]]>*/ LinkedIn . Are you a writer? Probably cannot be without your favorite news feed. Find the one application that is truly indispensable for what you do. Then, move on to the next step:
Strip down
No, not that kind of stripping, which might not be entirely appreciated by those around you. Once you know the time spent on different Social Media applications and the return of investment they've brought you, start to get rid of the noise. Become minimalist in your approach. Be sincere here. It might be tempting to keep that Twitter account that wakes you up in the middle of the night with a buzz on your mobile, but remember you are trying to overcome the fatigue caused by these applications in the first place. Don't be afraid to log out of these applications. Just log out for a few weeks or months if you must. If you are radical enough (I was, and looking back, it wasn't my best decision), delete the accounts you won't be checking for a while.
Pick a hobby
Seriously. It may sound like a cliché, but look at the log you've kept. How many hours a week were you putting into following feeds from some guy's gardening project or equally inessential events? That time could be put into something that gives you a new perspective and outlook into your working life. A hobby is one of the best ways to foster the creativity we need to do whatever it is we do best.
And one last point:
After a while, the fatigue will recede and you will feel invigorated and lighter. One day, you will find yourself signing up for that new application everyone is talking about, just remember to be a bit wiser and bit more cautious with the use of your time. After all, you don't want to burn out again.
