Can one be too connected?

Notice the little widget I recently added to the sidebar of this blog, down the right hand side. It's a little thingie called "Show Yourself" which allows you to place, in one convenient spot, all the various ways that people can connect to you. Some people have lists much longer than mine. Some people are connecting in all of the following ways (thanks to Lynette Radio for the image):



Some people think that being connected in so many different ways is simple overload...too much. Why have a "facebook" account when you have a "myspace" account? Why be connected on AOL Instant Messanger (AIM) when you have gChat on gMail? These are good questions. For me, it's a matter of trying them out, learning how they work, so that I can pass along my knowledge to my students. Because, in the final analaysis, I'm here to learn about all the ways to connect, so that I can help others learn what are GOOD ways to connect. And I suspect many of my over-connected friends are consultants, faculty members, and others who help others to connect.

So can one be connected too much? Sure! But being connected in lots of ways isn't necessarily too much.