Are you suffering from FOMO? Want to cut down your time in Purgatory? And a Gmail tool that will suck you in for hours. And lots of good news.

MIT’s fascinating Gmail visualization tool will delight/scare you. Have a Gmail account? Have several hours to kill? MIT’s Media Lab have developed a tool called Immersion that will allow you to view the history of your digital life. Enter your details and after some minutes, a delightful interactive graphic will appear showing you who you communicate most often with, who introduced you to who and how your email habits changed as people come and go in your life.

They say Immersion is “not about one thing. It’s about four. It’s about self-reflection, art, privacy and strategy. It’s about providing users with a number of different perspectives by leveraging on the fact that the web, and emails, are now an important part of our past”. I say, there goes the afternoon.

Do you suffer from FOMO? Are you one of the 27% of people who check their social media accounts first thing in the morning? Would you, like 26% of people, be prepared to give up cigarettes or TV rather than lose access to social networks? If so, you could be one of the 56% of people who suffer from Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO).

MyLife.com’s recent survey [infographic] suggests that social media addiction is creeping steadily upwards with over half of respondents expressing a desire to take a break from their online activities, but only 24% of those reporting that would be able to follow though.

Are you similarly overwhelmed? Funny or Die have a solution (click on the image).

Follow Pope Francis @pontifex on Twitter and get time off in Purgatory. From the UK Independent: ‘Salvation – or at least a shorter stay in Purgatory – might now be only a tweet away with news that Pope Francis is to offer “indulgences” – remissions for temporary punishment – to the faithful who follow him on the social media site.’

No word on what an RT is worth. Perhaps it’s like a third class relic or something.

And in other happy news: The UK heatwave scorches onwards (but we will find things to grumble about anyway); Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing is to be pardoned; Equal Marriage finally arrived in England and Wales; and Pet Shop Boys have a glorious new album out (85% on Metacritic!).

Enjoy the sun!

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Enda Guinan is a consultant and trainer offering advice on social media and product delivery for individuals and small businesses. Get in touch to see how you can make the best use of your time and energy as you put together your social media plans.