I’ve posted recently about how I’m finding it difficult to achieve the right balance between my online activities and my real world life. I think things have exacerbated for me because it’s been school holidays and I’ve had more time to expand my Personal Learning Network. I’ve been more active on Twitter and have been able to access networks at different times of the day, rather than the couple of hours a night that is the norm for me during the school working week. There have been others posting about the same thing – it seems there is too much to learn and too little time.
David Warlick wrote about needing a zipper for his PLN so that he could control it and allow himself time to do things like play his guitar and veg in front of the TV. Jeff Utecht picked up on this and has written a very useful post where he outlines the stages of Personal Learning Network adoption. I love the diagram he has produced to explain these stages and hope he doesn’t mind that I insert it here (notice that he has given it a creative commons licence so everything should be fine!);
I’m definitely at stage 3 but think I’m starting to move into stage 4. No doubt this has been prompted by members of my family using the words ‘internet addiction’ and the fact that my kids are over my blog and sick of seeing me with my computer at all times of the day and night. I’m also just so tired – the school holidays are nearing an end and I don’t feel rested at all. I’m in an almost constant state of thinking about how we apply these ideas into our educational settings; I toss ideas around and try to make sense of the vast amount of knowledge that I’ve been exposed to. I’m loving it but realise that balance is important – roll on stage 5!
Lucacept - intercepting the Web 
That is a very interesting graph! I am not sure where I am, I think I’m somewhere around stage 3-4.
No offense, but the creator of this graph Jeff Utchet forgot to label the X-axis and the Y-axis of the graph! my math teacher would cut of half credit for ignoring the basics.
just guessing x-axis is time and y-axis is the severity. Maybe Jeff didn’t include them because the variables are very spontaneous and it’s different for every people.
And that diagram reminds me of a video by mememolly http://tinyurl.com/2wp9ud . very similar idea of PLN.
All thing in moderation is hard advice to follow, and I have trouble with this also. Accessing your PLN should not be a chore, nor should you go at it “like killing snakes”. Excuse my Great Plains euphemism, but the point is that we need this interaction, in moderation.
Sounds like you and your children have already noted your saturation point, and I am sure you will figure out a way to match perspective with the need to know and be part of a vibrant Personal Learning Network.