In case anyone was keeping track, I was until recently doing Blog365. I pretty much let go of that last week, for a lot of reasons similar to why I’m not on Twitter right now. It’s just a lot more fun for me to spend my weekends having a good time with my children and my husband instead of wondering when I am going to get to the computer (or, as Kate is calling it these days, my “cuter”) to post something. Or, conversely, running errands. Either way, I don’t have that voice in the back of my head nagging me about making a post.
If I had a laptop, or a “smart” phone, my tweeting and blogging life would be different. If I could do those things while in the same room as my children, I would probably do them more often. Which, as I am learning from actually being in the room with my children and interacting with them, may not be a great thing for me, either. So.
*Disclaimer*: I would hope that everyone knows this, but I have cut back on my Internet usage (at this point in time, in this way) not because I think anything is wrong with being a parent and using the Internet. I don’t think there is anything wrong in blogging about your children, even your young children. Don’t be mean, obviously; don’t be exploitive — of anyone, not just your children. I don’t think there is anything inherently evil about Twitter or Facebook or blogging or the Internet in general.
I think it’s in the way that any of us use it. Surfing the Internet for child porn is WRONG, sick and wrong. Tweeting so much that your kids get into the pancake mix is funny, but Tweeting so much your kid says, “Why do you love your computer more than me?” would be sad (no, I don’t know an example of this, I’m making this up). Spending so much time on Facebook that it ruins your real-life relationships is problematic, to say the least.
I just want to be clear that I’m conducting this experiment, this Lenten fast, for my very own self. If what I have to report strikes you as useful or entertaining in some way, I hope you’ll let me know. But please don’t think I’m judging anyone, or anything, except my own life.
/disclaimer
Red Pen Mama 