‘I am not RTing that blog, did you see what she wrote about [insert other opinion piece]‘ 

Have you ever made the decision not to pass on a blog post or newspaper article, which you fundamentally agreed with, because of the previous writings of the author? Most of us have, but I believe this is stifling debate and turning Twitter and blogging into an echochamber of our own thoughts.

Today I read a post by Louise Mensch, about calling ‘child porn’ and ‘forced prostitution‘ by their real names. Rape. Do read it, it is really excellent.

A couple of people commented on Twitter about not reading anything that woman wrote, because of her views on so many other issues. I won’t pretend that this didn’t cross my mind. I don’t often agree with Ms Mensch, although I have on occasion.

Ms Mensch has however raised an important issue, and she will reach a completely different demographic than if a feminist, lefty blogger had posted the exact same piece. A demographic who might not have considered these issues. She isn’t ‘preaching to the choir’, as so many of us are.

It is not a bad thing to seek assurance and positive feedback from those you know agree with you, but this could influence those who would not read a feminist blog. That has to be a good thing, so it is right to share and share widely.

We should not be jealous because Ms Mensch is saying things that we have been saying for years, but be thankful to have support from an unexpected source. And we should welcome the strong voice of another woman, even if she says things that we don’t agree with.

This does not just affect the writings of Louise Mensch, but the writings of other women. I have seen feminist bloggers admonished and bullied on Twitter for linking to a blog, which also contains articles that are deemed to be transphobic. I will admit to being reluctant to get involved in the discussions around this topic, as the vitriol and twitterstorms that accompany it are frightening. They are also silencing.

I am not a Radical Feminist, in fact I am reluctant to give myself any kind of label, and very much enjoyed reading Spectra’s blog post on this topic recently. I read articles about feminism on blogs by RadFems, by LibFems, by those who deny being any kind of feminist. I read about sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and many other issues, and try to connect them in my brain to form some kind of sensible opinion.

If I were to stop reading a blog because I don’t fully agree with everything that person has ever said, I would be left to reading only my own writing. And even then, I have on occasion changed my mind, or reformed an opinion – often because of an article I have read.

I didn’t agree with Louise Mensch, when she said that we should ignore Rod Liddles ‘black savages’ blog post as ‘troll-baiting’, as this is not some obscure EDL nutter with a blog and an axe to grind. It is a professional journalist, who influences the EDL and others, and questions should be asked about the decision of the editorial staff to publish his racist comments.

She is however correct in saying that we should be looking beyond labels, privilege-checking and getting all tied up in terminology and actually DO something.

I have recently been working on developing  Jump! Magazine for Girls, and one of the aspects that I will try to promote there will be to publish less angry feminism, and more positive examples of feminism at work.  More focus on the achievements of feminism, and what more we can achieve.

Which isn’t to say that I can’t enjoy a good rant now and then, but I want our girls to be inspired by looking back at the journey we have travelled, and not dispirited by the mountains still in our way.

Maybe I am not quite as lefty as I though I was, but I have agreed with Louise Mensch on several occasions recently, and I would welcome her voice back in political commentary, if only to allow me to strengthen my arguments against what she wrote.

If feminism is the celebration of the voices of women, we have to accept the voices of all women. Not just those who share our political philosophy.

It is often more comfortable to follow those whose opinions we share, rather than seeking opposing views, but in doing this we are missing an opportunity to fully form our own opinions, and perhaps even the chance to change the minds of others.

The post OMG, I Agree With a Tory… And Other Traumas appeared first on Salt and Caramel.

I am a Mumsnet blogger, part of the Mumsnet Bloggers Network.

 I have worked on various projects with Mumsnet, including a trip to Kenya to blog about reproductive rights, the miscarriage campaign and the We Believe You rape awareness campaign. I was invited to speak at the Blogfest last year, where I met some of the wonderful women I have ‘known’ online for so long. Mumsnet have been supportive of Jump! Mag and have even promoted my book via their Bookclub.

It is fair to say that I am not an neutral observer, and I make no attempts to appear to be. I have spent hours on the site, chatting with those who have become friends, discussing politics, feminism, childcare and also being very silly and having a good laugh. The site is incredibly diverse, even more so now than when I joined.

“Mumsnet is an internet phenomenon” – The Sunday Telegraph

I have friends there. Some are now real life friends. And the Mumsnet Twitter crossovers, who keep me amused in 140 characters or less

 

I have asked and received advice on everything from personal issues, household tips, technical problems, child raising, moving house and much much more.

 

I have taken part in above mentioned campaigns, and helped other women who don’t have a ‘voice’ to find theirs – particularly the We Believe You campaign, where many women told stories of rape and abuse for the first time

I have taken part in the amazing Blogfest last year and saw the immense amount of work and care that went into pulling it off 

 

The amazing women on Mumsnet who will sit till the early hours of the morning, supporting the despairing, the bereaved, the desperate

 

The Woolly Hugs crew, who started knitting and crocheting to make a blanket for a bereaved Mumsnetter, and forgot to stop. They have now made 250 blankets, which have gone to comfort bereaved families, children with terminal illnesses, and children in Malawi.

 

Mumsnet Classics – where the very best of Mumsnet is saved for eternity. The wit and intelligence of threads such as The White Knuckle Ride of a Thread about PEARL BARLEY, the hilarity of Thickos of Trip Advisor, the eeeeuuuuw factor of Memorable Poos in Inappropriate Places and of course I AM CANADIAN (which despite repeated pleas, has not been moved to Classics). Don’t start reading these threads if you have some place to go in the next four hours. Or in the case of Random Acts of Kindness, without readying a box of Kleenex.

The post Mumsnet and Bloggers – Calling a Truce appeared first on Salt and Caramel.

I am guessing most of my readers would be horrified, and would have a stern chat with their daughter or son.

Paris Brown, the UK’s first youth police and crime comminssioner (PCC) was revealed to have tweeted the above comments over the past few years on her private twitter account. She has since apologised, and explained that she was ‘wildly exaggerating’. .

Questions need to be asked though, as to why the appointment by Kent Independent PCC Ann Barnes was not preceded by a thorough vetting of the young woman and her views. And why no one thought to check Ms Brown’s Social Media accounts before she was appointed. 

It is simply not acceptable to place a young woman into a position where she will be scrutinised and criticised in the national press without ensuring that there are no skeletons in her Social Media cupboard. The comment from Ms Barnes is simply incredible.

“We went through a perfectly normal recruitment process. We had her vetted by the force and nobody normally looks through anybody’s Twitter feed.

“Social networking sites are a no-go area for most of us adults.

“A lot of young people use them and say the most horrible things. They don’t even think about what they are saying and I think this is what’s happened with Paris.”

 

 

This is all seen from a Social Media point of view. Obviously Ms Barnes will have to explain why Ms Brown was chosen, when there are surely hundreds of young people in Kent who don’t share these abhorrent opinions.

UPDATE 

Paris Brown has announced that she will be declining the offer of Youth PCC for Kent. 

It is a strong reminder that young people need guidance about what they share online, and that the older generation cannot say, ‘Oh, I don’t do all that Twitter and Facebook nonsense’ and ignore it.

We parents have a duty to our children to inform ourselves of the issues. You don’t need to actually use FB or Twitter, if it is not your cup of tea, but check it out and find out how you can monitor and protect your children.

At present many schools concentrate on cyberbullying and don’t give much guidance on the personal consequences of oversharing on Social Media, so we can’t rely on our kids learning this at school.

If you have a teen or pre-teen, do you monitor their Facebook and Twitter pages, and have you talked to them about what they share online?

I wrote about the first Social Media Generation earlier this year, and this weekend has shown how vital it is to have this conversation with our young people. 

The post The Paris Brown Twitter Scandal – and What Parents Need to Know appeared first on Salt and Caramel.

‘Was nix kostet, ist nix wert’

This German saying meaning, ‘What costs nothing, is worth nothing’ is one I use a lot.

Lately I have been using it a lot when talking about payment for writing, and it came to mind when I read this blog post from writer, Nate Thayer, who was asked if he would be interested in having one of his articles republished on The Atlantic website. When he asked about format, deadline and fees, he was informed that while the Atlantic would like to publish his work, they were not willing to pay him for it. His reply:

I am a professional journalist who has made my living by writing for 25 years and am not in the habit of giving my services for free to for profit media outlets so they can make money by using my work and efforts by removing my ability to pay my bills and feed my children. I know several people who write for the Atlantic who of course get paid. I appreciate your interest, but, while I respect the Atlantic, and have several friends who write for it, I have bills to pay and cannot expect to do so by giving my work away for free to a for profit company so they can make money off of my efforts. 1200 words by the end of the week would be fine, and I can assure you it would be well received, but not for free. Frankly, I will refrain from being insulted and am perplexed how one can expect to try to retain quality professional services without compensating for them. Let me know if you have perhaps mispoken.

and the reply from Atlantic

I completely understand your position, but our rate even for original, reported stories is $100. I am out of freelance money right now, I enjoyed your post, and I thought you’d be willing to summarize it for posting for a wider audience without doing any additional legwork. Some journalists use our platform as a way to gain more exposure for whatever professional goals they might have, but that’s not right for everyone and it’s of course perfectly reasonable to decline.

Thank you and I’m sorry to have offended you.

I can see no reason to blame the editor, who is obviously under pressure to find writers who would be willing to share their work without payment, but what about the media outlets who consistently share content from unpaid writers, while pocketing advertising revenue? Atlantic is far from the only one doing this, many other online media sites do the same. I enjoyed this article about online media start-ups not paying writing staff.

Why do we accept that our work is not worth paying for? And does this make us worthless? 

In recent conversations about the future of Jump! Mag, I have been asked why I feel the need to change the magazine, and to introduce a subscription to pay for these changes. Why not leave it as it is, and allow girls to read it free? For one thing, I think that Jump! Mag could be so much MORE, and could reach many more girls around the country. Hell, around the world, if we are going to think big. To do this, I have to engage writers, proof-readers, website designers and probably other people who I haven’t even realised I need, and these people should be paid for their contributions. 

Creating Jump! Mag did not happen overnight, it has taken an awful lot of unpaid work to get it this far, and when we go on to develop it further, I will make no apologies for making money out of it. If it is not possible to run as a profit-making business, then it is not viable. And if it is not possible to make a profit while paying for contributors, then it is not viable. 

I have spoken to others who work in a similar sector, and are finding that many have had similar experiences. When they have talked of their intention to make money out of the provision of educational or creative content, the response has been at times quite negative. 

Would you criticise a plumber for sending you a bill when he fixed your leaky tap?

Then why the criticism of those in the creative industries who wish to make money from their endeavours? 

 We are not talking about a scam, a nefarious get-rich-quick scheme, but the creation of a website, an article or a book that takes a lot of time and effort. I have witnessed friends on Twitter spending months to write, edit and produce a book, which they self-publish and sell for pennies. Sometimes even free. Why do we not value the work that they have put into creating that book, unless they have been lucky enough to find a ‘proper’ publisher? 

A week or so ago, a very talented photographer asked on Twitter if the price she was thinking of charging for a photography course was too high. The resounding response was, ‘No, it is too low. Don’t sell yourself too short’. Perhaps the problem is that when we price a course, we think we are asking for payment for the 3 or 4 hours that we are teaching. We are not. We are asking for payment for the years of experience, the weeks of preparation, the days of advertising, the hours of paperwork that follow such a course. 

If we do not value our own work, then how do we expect others to put a value to it? 

Part of this may be due to the ‘Imposter Syndrome’ which is so wonderfully described by Phyllis L. F. Rippeyoung, Ph.D.  an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Ottawa  here. Imposter Syndrome is not confined to academia, and is absolutely rife amongst writers. I cannot count how many blogs I have seen linked to with a self-deprecating comment such as:

‘This might not be of any use to you, but I wrote this blog post’

‘It isn’t very good, but if you want to read my blog on this’ 

‘Here is some nonsense that I scribbled down earlier’

‘A bit of a rambling stream on conciousness from me today’ 

and so on and on. I want to scream BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, but that would probably make them even more hesitant about sharing their work.

If we believed in ourselves, and were more confident in demanding fair payment for services rendered, would we find that we received payment.

 Or would we simply find that others were willing to do the work for free? Are we helping to create the problem by offering to work for nothing?

Of course we all do work that does not pay in monetary terms. The blogs and campaigns that I have been involved in for Mumsnet have not brought cold hard cash, but they brought the opportunity to go to Africa with the Gates Foundation and IRP. The blog posts for the Gates Foundation blog, Impatient Optimists, were unpaid, but they gave me credibility and confidence as a writer.

I find that while I enjoy writing for Impatient Optimists, I have to fit it in with other commitments, and so I haven’t been able to write as often as I had hoped. It is partly the reason that I am determined to be able to pay for articles on Jump! Mag, because in doing so, I will be more able to rely on contributors to deliver an article when I want it. As wonderful as the voluntary contributors are, I am reliant on them having time to write for me, and of course they are going to put my request to the bottom of the pile if there is paid work to be had.

The real problem is that the lack of payment is desperately bad for journalism. I have met incredibly talented writers and journalists who have to subsidise their income with menial jobs because they simply cannot make enough money in their profession to pay their bills. Journalists who spend a lot of time and money researching articles, only to find that their work is not valued.

We want quality journalism, but we are not willing to pay for it, and as long as there is a stream of enthusiastic amateurs willing to fill the gaps, the media outlets are not going to pay for professionals. From here on, I see a steady stream of reblogged and recycled articles, with little original thought or opinion.

I see fiction writing going the same way, with the stream of self published authors accepting the risks, and accepting low sales prices in the hope that they will be discovered. Value your work and sell it for a decent price, I want to scream. Don’t give it away. 

Was nix kostet, ist nix wert. 

What are you worth? 

Featured Image 

The post Is Creative Work Worthless? appeared first on Salt and Caramel.

‘Why would I want to look like Selena Gomez’, she asked when reading an article titled Get Selena’s Style. ‘I have my own style’. 

I started Jump! Mag after talking about it on Mumsnet with many others who had noticed the same thing. I had a vision of a magazine that would be fun and informative, that would give girls advice on typical problems such as bullying, without being worthy or patronising. I loved the idea of girls contributing, and so set off to see if anyone would read it. 

And read it they have. Not thousands of hits a day, but in respectable numbers. 

Once I settled in our new home, I carried on working on Jump! Mag, running it with the help of many wonderful people who contribute articles and suggestions for articles, who pass it on to their friends and relatives and generally keep my spirits up. The most rewarding comments have come from pre-teen readers, such as this one 

My mum hooked me up with jump mag so at first I thought it would be very educational and boring. I’m so wrong aren’t I AMAZING.  it is education in some places but it is very good to read 

I have decided to take a leap and see if Jump! Mag can go further. My vision is for Jump! Mag to be a kind of Huff Post for kids. With news reports, rewritten in a child appropriate manner, funny videos, daily comics, amazing facts and so on.

If you are a web designer or graphic artist, don’t laugh at my terrible mock-up of the front page please. 

When I had my recent No Tech Day, I read the book by Ernesto Sirolli on entrepreneurship. Central to the book is the theory that no one can be a successful entrepreneur alone, as to be successful one has to be skilled in the areas of product development, finance and marketing.

‘We have never met a single human being in the world, who can make it, sell it, and look after the marketing’

As you can see, my skills do not lie in web or graphic design, so that will be passed on to someone else.  

Developing a website takes money, and that is where the next part of the Ernesto’s advice comes in. The finance. No point in developing a great magazine for girls, if no one wishes to pay money for it. There are several ways of financing a project like this, after the initial investment for developing the website. 

1. Advertising

2. Subscription 

 Advertising is not an option, for several reasons. Ideologically, I have always seen Jump! Mag as a place free from pressures of society, and advertising is a large part of that. What kind of advertising for pre-teens would be acceptable? I also don’t want to add to the pressures for the parents, of their children saying, ‘I saw this really cool gadget on Jump! Mag. Can I have it?’ From a business POV, I don’t think it would work anyway, as the users are not the ones holding the credit cards.

Subscription would give parents the chance for a small monthly fee to allow their kids access to certain areas of Jump! Mag. Without subscription, girls could still access some articles, while some of the more involved (and for us expensive to produce) content would be behind the ‘paywall’.

The main difference between Jump! Mag and content providers like Huff Post would be that we would pay experts to write our articles. Teachers, scientists, psychologists, art historians… we value the work of those who write for us, and would like to pay them for this work. Doing this would enable us to create joined up content, with clear series of articles on one topic. 

We’d like to introduce peer to peer counselling, where girls can ask a question and have it answered by their peers. This would be strictly moderated, and conclude with expert advice from a trained counsellor, who would also provide advice on bullying. How to deal with cyberbullying, and how to use the internet and social media safely, would be another hot topic. 

We’d like to include games to teach girls to code, as seen on this great website. We would offer study guides, presenting the themes of the national curriculum in an engaging manner, written by educators. Craft tutorials, health and style tips and recipes – often presented by the pre-teens themselves would also be a part of our new site. In short, a one stop shop for girls to read about what they are interested in.  

The next step is to find out how many people would be actually willing to pay for this, and to do this, I have set up a short survey. Please take a few minutes, even if you don’t have girls old enough to read Jump! Mag yet. We need lots of responses, so please share the survey with your friends and followers. 

*EDIT*
A comment on the survey asked about the ethics of taking articles from girls and not paying for them. This is something that I have considered and wanted to make clear that no one will be making a profit based on the work of the girls. Paying them to work for Jump! Mag would be wrong, not to mention illegal. 

My proposal is that for every article that Jump! Mag publishes, we will donate a set ‘fee’ to a charity which benefits girls. This charity would be chosen by Jump! Mag on a yearly basis.

The post What Happens Next With Jump! Mag appeared first on Salt and Caramel.

If you have a business or a blog to publicise, you might be told that linking Facebook and Twitter accounts will save you time. It will, but it will also annoy some of your followers. Here are the reasons why I do not recommend it:

 Check out my other tips on Social Media and Blogging 

The post Seven Deadly Social Media Sins – Linking Facebook and Twitter Account appeared first on Salt and Caramel.

I have been known to throw things at the TV when that advert comes on. As this blogger notes, ‘Unconditional Love’ does not mean raising selfish kids. We may give up sleeping through the night and drinking tea while it is hot, at least for the first few years, but we draw the line at giving up our entire lives for our kids

It is no sacrifice, the changes that we have made since becoming parents. It is being part of a family, and making compromises to ensure that everyone in the family is happy and fulfilled.

While the focus was certainly on the needs of the children while they were babies and toddlers, as they have grown older, there has been a slight change. The wishes of the parents are no longer put far behind those of the children, and the children learn to negotiate and compromise to get what they want.

Who were Barclays hoping to catch with that advert? It is truly awful, and that is before we get to the horribly stereotyped pink-obsessed spoiled little madam.

Today, I saw this advert, which was like a breath of fresh air   

I immediately looked to see if I could find it on YouTube so I could share it with others. On the second viewing, I liked it even more.

This is a caring father, who spends time with his daughter, not just money on his daughter. He cares for her, plays with her, laughs with her. He gives up his jumper during a walk in the park and shivers for her. (By this point I had tears in my eyes, sentimental fool that I am). He gives her boyfriend the evil eye and helps pack her books when she leaves to go to University.

Yes, it is an advert, and it is created for women like me who will share it with their friends and say, ‘awwwwwww isn’t this lovely’, and it was created by a cynical marketing team who want us to buy the cars they are flogging. 

And yet… It is important that our girls feel that we see them as the Volkswagen Girl, not the Barclays Girl.  It may be ‘just an advert’ but it sets a tone, and it sets and example. We are proud of our girls, and we value them.

The interesting thing about these two adverts is that the basic idea is very similar. The sacrifices that we make for our children, shown in a timeline from birth to adulthood.

In my opinion, Barclays totally missed the point. I am on TeamVW. Whose side are you on? 

The post Volkswagen Small But Tough Girl vs Barclay Precious Pink Girl appeared first on Salt and Caramel.

The really lovely and professional Maria from Polarn O. Pyret emailed me and we chatted about how this would work, then she promised to send some clothes for us to review. Before long I received a package, which I opened with the kids. The clothes were for my 8 year old boy, much to the annoyance of his sister, and she declared that she LOVED the sweatshirt and would wear it too. 

The sweatshirt is deep blue with an amusing jungle print, that kept the kids busy for a while as they played spot the animal. Underneath this sweatshirt was a cool long-sleeved tshirt in a ‘Granddad’ style. 

I took some photos that day, and then more the day that he wore the shirt for the first time, and resolved to blog about them soon. And then I got distracted, and forgot. After a little while Maria sent a friendly little reminder and I promised to write something in the next week, but again I got distracted by other work and didn’t get around to writing the review. 

All the while it was difficult to properly review the clothes cause my son is 8 years old and wears school uniform most of the week. He does wear his own clothes at weekends and in the evenings but the clothes for Polarn O. Pyret are not the only clothes he wears. I have to say, since moving back to Scotland, we have discovered that kids can grow out of clothes, instead of wearing them till the fall apart. 

He has now worn them a bit more, and they have been thrown on the floor in a heap, washed and dried, put in his room for him to put away and left on the floor in a heap for days till he tidied up before the clothes were put UNWORN back into the washing. Repeat ad infinitum. Is that just my kids? 

Anyway, every time he does wear them, I cringe and remember that I have still not written this post and I feel guilty because I am not that kind of a person. Oh, I am disorganised and easily distracted, but I am not dishonest. And that is what it feels like, because I took a product on the understanding that I would review it. And in doing this, I have realised that I feel very uncomfortable in promising to write a review. 

Being British, I am sometimes too polite for my own good, and I find it difficult to write a review about something that I have received in return for said review. Not that the Polarn O. Pyret clothes were not good. They were of excellent quality, good design and have washed and worn well. But would I have been too polite to say differently, had I not liked the clothes? I honestly don’t know, as I feel beholden to the manufacturer to say something good about them. 

I am also worried about the way in which companies work with bloggers, which is leading to much uncertainty and angst in the blogging community, on exchanging links for money or goods. See the current interesting discussion on Google+   about this. At this point I will state that while I received the products to review, I did not receive money from Polarn O. Pyret for this blog post, or for linking to their website. 

I am  working hard to develop Jump! Mag at the moment and I have to spend the time on that project, and some other projects that I am working on. My blog is too personal, and an outlet for any pent up emotions for me to hijack it with a blog that I HAVE to write, because I promised it, and I find that I sit for hours before such a post and cannot find the inspiration.

So while I would love to be a blogger who receives stuff to review, I am afraid that this is my first and last review. This is in no way a dig at those who review for their blogs, or at those who provide products for review. Every blogger is responsible for their own blog, and their readers will respond to their decision in their own way. I dislike blogs that are filled only with reviews, and do not read them. Others find them helpful and interesting. There is space in blogging for all of us.

Love love love the cord elbows

Anyway, that is the decision made, now on the actual review.

As stated, the clothes are funky and bright. When I had looked at Polarn O. Pyet clothes in the past, they were pretty much plain colours,  with lots of stripes if I remember rightly. I will admit that I preferred that style, but my kids are SO OVER stripes that they were excited to receive something slightly more modern.

The shirt has cord elbow patches, which look great and make it much more hard wearing. I like the button down feature, and the little pockets. My son declared it perfect to wear with his Lederhosen (pictured above) which he loves to wear to special occasions and parties.

The jacket features a detachable hood and the aforementioned funky pattern, which both kids adored. Despite the two year age gap, my kids are quite close in height so my daughter immediately tried it on and declared she was having it. No chance.

To my shame, the review is so late, that the clothes are no longer available on the website but do have a look at the other clothes that are available. I nabbed a couple of bargains while I was there as they had a lot of the ski clothes on sale. My son has almost grown out of his ski suit, and has been asking for a set with separate trousers rather than the one piece that he declared babyish. 

This was my first and last sponsored review. From now on, everything I review will be bought and paid for by me. That way, I can sleep at nights without worrying about that damned review that I am still owe, and you readers can know that I was totally and utterly honest with you about the product. 

The post Review of Polarn O. Pyret – My First and Last Review appeared first on Salt and Caramel.

What can I say? I am a big Mooncup fan, and I just love this.

The post Mooncup vs Tampon – FIGHT!! appeared first on Salt and Caramel.

‘Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo’, I shrieked, while clutching my iPhone close to my chest. 

When I got over the shock of the mere premise, I read Joanne’s blog post, and the blog of her daughter who originally set the challenge, I started thinking about it.

I was surprised last week to hear that the first iPad was revealed to the public just three years ago. Is it only three years? It feels like an eternity. I bought my first iPhone when we moved to Geneva, five years ago, and I now cannot imagine how I lived without it. 

Technology now develops at such an amazing rate. Before we have really got used to one gadget or app, another one comes along to replace it. My first mobile phone was an Alcatel One Touch Easy, about the size and weight of a brick. I never worked out if pulling out that little antennae thing actually helped but it did draw attention to the fact that one was using a MOBILE PHONE. I recall my father in law being very impressed when my mother replied to a text that I had sent – even though I had moved the phone out to the hall, it still knew where it was to receive a reply.

Then I bought a Sony Erricson, my first camera phone – but get this. You had to attach the little camera to the bottom of the phone! The rest of the time, it lived in a little pouch in my bag. So when someone did something funny, you had to scramble in your handbag for the little camera, get it out of the pouch, fix it onto the bottom of the camera … and by that time your child had stopped being totally adorable and was now crying. 

The phone after that was a Motorola Razr, which was of course totally cool at the time – and actually not bad looking in retrospect. There is nothing like a flip phone for finishing a phone call with a flourish. The only thing that could improve an iPhone (other than a battery that lasts more than 8 hours) would be a clam shell design.

I bought the Alcatel just before my daughter was born, in 2002, the Sony was bought in 2004 (in time to take photos of new born son) and the Razr in 2006. We have gone from being able to call while out and about, to texting then sending fuzzy photos, to even sharper photos to not even needing to take a camera on holiday anymore. In just over a decade. 

Writing the dates made me realise that when my daughter was born, we took photos with a normal camera, had them developed onto a CD, went to an internet cafe and emailed the pics to my parents in Scotland. Nowadays, you could live stream the birth (if you wanted to really shock your relatives).

We have become ever more reliant on these gadgets. My phone is my diary, address book, communications aid, sat nav, book shelf, weather hygrometer, supermarket, bookstore, alarm clock, car park payment system – even my wrist watch replacement. Going for a whole day without these would be doable, I reckoned, but as a Social Media addict, could I last a day without Twitter and Facebook? I was not sure.

I woke at yesterday morning and checked the time. I had to get out of bed to do this, and find my old wristwatch because my iPhone was needing charged – I had deliberately not plugged it in as usual because I knew I would be tempted to have a sneaky peek. Normally I lie in my bed a little longer and check emails, Twitter and FB, so my husband was slightly surprised how quickly I appeared at the breakfast table. We talked about what we would do, and I noticed my hand twitch when we discussed opening times of shops or restaurants. I could check that quickly, but no. My useless dead iPhone was upstairs.

After clearing up, which was done faster because I wasn’t replying the tweets I hadn’t sent before breakfast, we went into town. We walked with the kids, then my son had a haircut. All of which I didn’t document for eternity. Is it really important to take a picture of every haircut and tweet it, with a witty caption? Not really. We also managed to go for a walk without taking a photo of the scenery or the kids playing in the grass, or dancing in the old bandstand.

When we arrived home, my son went upstairs to play on his wii, while my husband read a book about the history of Scotland.

My husband recently sent me this TED talk by Ernesto Sirolli. I loved the ideas that Ernesto shared, and bought his book on entrepreneurship. 

His book inspired me to sit and think properly about how to develop Jump! Mag. Without the distractions of Twitter, Google and the rest of the internet, I was more productive in one afternoon, than I have been in the past two months. 

Ernesto suggests we should SHURRUP AND LISTEN, and that is what I did yesterday. I shut up the internet, and I listened to myself.

I realised that, while I have the talent for creating content and marketing Jump! Mag, I need someone to develop the technical side of things. I have to stop trying to do everything alone, and let someone who is better at the geeky stuff take over. This isn’t easy for me, because Jump! Mag is my baby, but if I want it to grow, I have to let someone else take over.

After writing down reams of ideas, I realised something else. I am not used to writing by hand any more. Ouch.

I am afraid that I cooked dinner on an electric oven, as I reckoned that it wasn’t exactly a recent invention. If you do this challenge and wish to go the whole hog with a meal cooked over an open fire in the garden, be my guest.

We then settled down to read and chat, without the distractions of iPhone, PC or iPad. Our kids were drawing, and my daughter was writing down some ideas for her blog. She joined in the No Tech day and will be sharing her thoughts later.

We have decided that we shall introduce No Tech Afternoons at least once a week, and have dusted off the Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit games in anticipation. Both kids recently said that they prefer board games to computer games, probably because we parents are more likely to join in.

I guess you could say that the experiment was a great success. All of us enjoyed having more time spent together as a family, and I certainly felt that my mind was buzzing with ideas. Getting to sleep took some time last night, but once I dropped off, I slept well.

Can a day without technology change my life? I don’t know, but it certainly made me focus on what is most important and gave me a shove to actually make some changes. 

The first thing I did this morning was check Twitter to see if anyone had noticed my absence. 

Featured Image 

The post Can A Day Without Technology Change My Life? appeared first on Salt and Caramel.