Recently I did something I resisted for a long time. I joined Facebook … but with reservations.

I understand the appeal — catch up with long lost friends, bring everyone up to speed on your life all when you have free time, share photographs in one convenient place, business networking, exposure to a cause, along with many others.

It’s not that I have anything against social networking, but I’m just one of these people that would rather have a more personable one-on-one conversation or a more involved face-to-face discussion with people. Time also plays a huge part in my qualms about joining. There are only 24 hours in a day and I can’t do everything. I know firsthand how things can suck you in and before you know it, your intended goals fall off your radar and you are spending time doing something else.

One example began about three years ago. I joined an online writing website with the goal to get feedback on my writing. I got my free membership and posted some of my work. Before long, I upgraded my membership to maintain an ongoing journal book that others could read and comment on as well. I met other writers and my circle of writer friends got larger.

Before long, I spent much time each day reading and commenting about their daily happenings and writing daily entries about mine. I couldn’t wait to log on to see my comments from my cyber friends and soon, there was little or no time left for me to do any actual writing. That venue became my distraction, not an added benefit to my goal. After about a year, I decided I needed to quit my membership to focus once again on my writing.

Society offers many distractions to lure us from our goals. Some distractions are good at the right times and in the right dosage. Other distractions can threaten to derail us if left unchecked.

Plugged In Online (an entertainment resource put out by Focus on the Family) sends out regular emails. Yesterday’s email boasted a headline, “Facebook: A Turbulent Romance in Four Acts.” Intrigued due to my own thoughts and feelings on the social networking subject, I read the article. It was humorous but truthful. It gave great food for thought.

As parents, are we teaching our children conflict resolution in real life? Do our children know how to manage their real-life friendships without a click of a button? Is more time spent with a laptop, than face-to-face interactions?

I’m not saying we all need to deactivate our social networking memberships, but one thing is certain — time is valuable. Once it’s used, it’s gone. But how we use our time, lingers for a lifetime.