CurrentMom

Sometimes, You Just Gotta Unplug

Tech Tuesday

It goes without saying that it would be a large adjustment for me to continually get through my daily life without technology. The fact that the family business involves electronics means I really wouldn't have the same daily life. I appreciate all that these advances have done for me - 

• The apps that track my to-dos/appointments
• The fun games that give me a small break
• The TV/DVD that allows authors creations to come to life before me

For all that I enjoy about technology, there are certain things that make it bloody annoying. And for those reasons we've all experienced, sometimes I just want a break. 

A weekend; maybe a week, tops. That's not too much to ask, right? After all, it's not as if I have to leave all my electronic leashes at home. I just can exert a bit more control over when I allow them to control me. Like checking for voicemail at the end of a day, instead of answering my cell every time it rings, or screening right then and calling "important" people back right away. 

I don't need a laptop to have fun. I don't need to be doing work 24/7, either. If I can't check my email on my phone, that's another gadget I can look at only when I decide I want to. If I decide I don't want to until I get back - so be it.

You might be thinking at this point either A) This is impossible or B) One would need to book a vacation at some exclusive resort and spa far away from daily life in order to accomplish this.

Not really. 

It's a decision you make. You could vacation in your own home just as easily as somewhere else! Sure, you'd still have to do some cleanup unless you hired a maid for the weekend, but treating yourself doesn't have to mean breaking the bank. You know those commercials where the kids are camping-out in the backyard? Why can't you do that?! You don't have to pay the campground fees, you're guaranteed electricity and if you forgot to pack something really important you aren't that far from home. 

Personally, I love camping. Ironically, I also love the idea of living in a world devoid of technology. When I feel the need to escape life, I camp-out with my fellow members of The Society for Creative Anachronism. There's nothing like putting on clothing from the middle ages and learning crafts that are in danger of dying-out that makes you forget all about answering your phone or constantly updating your Facebook status. (Psst - they'll also come in handy after the Zombie Apocalypse.)

That's just me, of course. You can just pitch a regular tent, in regular clothes, and enjoy the wilderness. If you just aren't an outdoorsy person, well, hotels work too. Just remember to turn-off your cellphone or leave it in the room when you go out. 

After all, relaxation may have a different meaning to many of us, but I haven't found anyone yet that finds the constant ringing/binging or general noise of their world puts them in a state of Zen.

Photo by Me (ZafraD) from my flickr

The Art of Doing for Yourself

I am known as "the triplets' mom." This is not shocking, since I am flanked by three little ones everywhere I go.

My mom identity seems to overshadow everything. Like the fact that I love to bake and cook. Or that I'm a writer. Or that I'm from Detroit (and a die-hard Red Wings fan).

Likewise, when I meet someone new, she is introduced to me as "so-and-so's mom." I don't know what she does/did professionally, where she's from, what her interests are. These are the things that I would learn quickly pre-children. But now her identity, as is mine, is wrapped with her kids'.

That's how it was when I met Tara Coles. We lived on the same street and neighbors introduced her as a fellow mom of multiples (twins and an older daughter, and now a younger one as well). They failed to mention that she's also a practicing ER physician. An entrepreneur. And now, I've just learned, one of four semi-finalists for an International Moms in Business Grant for her start-up, ArtNest.

Go See Mike Daisey's New Show

Image via Wikipedia

Technology Thursday

Many of us love our gadgets. However, as with many first-world consumption patterns, they don't come free of guilt. There are ongoing questions and challenges regarding the environmental impact of manufacturing computers and electronic gadgetry. And there are also concerns about the sheer amount of energy required to power these wonderful Intarwebz and all the geegaws connected to them. There's a reason big companies like to place datacenters near rivers (hint: hydroelectric power).

So, while we can all feel a smidge of anxiety knowing that every Google search we do and every email we send kinda' sorta' maybe sends a little puff of carbon dioxide into an atmosphere, that, in the immortal words of engineer Montgomery Scott CANNA TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS, CAP'n, another guilt-inducer is labor. Specifically, the labor practices used in the places that manufacture our pretty, pretty iPads.

Mike Daisey is an amazing monologuist, story teller, and solo performer. Last year I saw his show "The Last Cargo Cult" at Woolly Mammoth Theatre in D.C. and it was amazing. I have been remiss all these years in not seeing his earlier work. I also read the book he wrote about working at Amazon in the 90s called 21 Dog Years: A Cube Dweller's Tale. His most recent effort is a show called "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs." Here's a snippet of a review:

In this freewheeling theatrical essay, he doesn't just hold Apple CEO Steve Jobs' feet to the fire. He doesn't just question the morality of capitalism. He forces theatergoers to take a hard look at the glowing screens in their pockets and ask where they came from and at what cost.

Only a true believer, a man who fieldstrips his MacBook Pro down to its 43 components parts to unwind, could be this shocked and heartbroken to find that the gadgets he adores, those glossy pieces of electronic sculpture known as the iPad and the iPhone, might have been produced under brutal working conditions in China. Eager to investigate for himself, Daisey traveled to Shenzhen, a city of 14 million people crammed together under a "poisoned silver sky," at a time when workers were hurling themselves off the roof at Foxconn, one of Apple's key manufacturers.

Another, explaining why Apple Fanboys should see the show: (I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt this time and let's all assume Apple Fangirls should, too)

Instagram is Lightweight and Fun

Image by Lyn Millett via Flickr and Instagram

Technology Thursday

A few years back I did a Project 365 photography project that was supposed to be a self-portrait every day. I managed to take a whole bunch of self-portraits, although not quite every day. Unfortunately, I stopped being creative rather quickly and started to just snap a washed out looking Photobooth picture of myself every day with my iMac. It was still an interesting project (for me), but hardly the creative challenge I'd thought I'd try to make for myself. Similarly, I've declared 2011 to be another Project365 year, although I'm not restricting myself to any particular subjects.

I was pretty pleased with my Day 1 photo, but since then it has sort of devolved into snapshots taken with my phone when I remember I haven't taken any pictures yet, or snapshots of the kiddo. Meanwhile, the 3 photography books I've bought for inspiration over the last couple of years sit on my desk collecting dust because if I have time, I don't have energy to dive into them, and if I have energy, I don't have time. And I'm just talking about time to read the book, to say nothing of actually carrying my camera around all day and making a real effort to take more pictures. Oh well, maybe I'll be able to squeeze more time out for this later in the year.

When it comes to sharing photos, though, one thing I've found to be surprisingly fun is the little social media app Instagram.

Old Fashioned (Sort of) Holiday Cards

Image by Lyn Millett via Flickr

Technology Thursday

This time of year often brings discussion of whether technology has eliminated or will eliminate paper holiday cards. But I also remember hearing similar discussions 10, 15 years ago. And, of course, we have been lamenting the death of the personal letter for decades.

I send paper holiday cards in the mail. I may have skipped a year or two here and there, but I try to send them every year. My list of recipients is a bit long, and eclectic. It includes my childhood pastor's wife (even though I think I'm considered, accurately, pretty much an apostate), an elementary schoolteacher, college professors, a couple of ex-bosses, the usual assortment of friends from various ages and stages, a lot of extended family (if I skip one, they'll all find out, so I might as well keep the list complete!) and, in recent years, some friendly professional contacts, and so on.

There seem to be some competing forces (also known as... sources of guilt) about whether you do or don't, should or shouldn't send them. On the one hand, as is well-documented, women tend to do more than their share of relationship maintenance and so the burden of personal household correspondence typically falls to them. But who has the time? On the other hand, we all know (and lament) the increasing isolation imposed by the constraints of modern society. Reaching out at the holidays seems at least one way to maintain connections. There's also there's this weird trend, which I come across now and then and have decided to just treat as utterly alien, that somehow if you don't hand address and write a long personal note in every card, then you've committed a massive etiquette faux pas. Sigh. Who has time for that? (On this, I think holiday cards are different from thank you notes - haven't checked to see whether Miss Manners agrees.)

So I keep doing it, so far, for a few reasons.