Techno Happy?

The Right Way?

So here’s the thing, I love technology and use it in my everyday life.

I advocate innovation and get excited by conceptual geekery.

I have a real life and a social media enabled life – I call it an outlet for my constructed self.

I Tweet, I blog, I Facebook, I download shiney iPhone apps with a core function and imperative to enhance my life/make my life easier.

I admit that I am dazzled by marketing spin, even though as Creative Director of an agency, marketing + spin + the consumer is my business.

A few things have struck a chord recently:

1. My folks managed to get rid of their old kitchen and appliances purely by word of mouth and cards in their local post office.

2. During a recent trip to Sydney, I wanted to avoid data roaming charges and my mobile provider suggested I buy a map – initially I guffawed at such an idea but once there, map in hand, it was really quite fun

3. I recently tweeted that it was fun to hang out with friends who don’t ‘do’ social media and don’t have iPhones, what surprised me is how many people replied, agreeing that it was indeed refreshing or to simply swap anecdoatal tales of two worlds colliding and how funny it is

4. Having enjoyed a summer holiday in Kefalonia with the aid of a large paper map, I have since posted the map (via snail mail) to a friend who was heading to Kefalonia – she benefitted from my notes on the map which included pebble coves I discovered, restaurants in and around Fiscardo which I visited, where to turn off for certain attractions and notes in how to approach roundabouts when in Greece (I’m still trauamatised) and which bits of road the goats hung out on

A very dear friend of mine advocates the notion of ‘voluntary simplicity’, I used to raise an eyebrow but now I think i’m just a bit late to the party. He’s on to something.

Whilst the simply life can be a good and nostaligic life, I like the balance and choice that tech brings to the party.

I’m not about to ditch my love of ‘enabling’ tech and connectivity rituals – I can’t, I’m a junkie, I’ve gone too far down the road to find a turning point. I really like this route most of the time. Truely.

Howerever…

What I am going to do more of is re-embrace the low-fi life – I’m not talking about leaving a crumb trail next time I go exploring or redoscovering the art of letter writing (please, that’s a whole other post!).

I’m simply talking about remembering that I have a choice in how I approach everything and sometimes it’s fun to be lost in a strange city with rain-splattered map – not being able to speak the lingo and wandering into an unknown rustic cafe only to discover the most amazing food, likewise, when you have a tiny window in which to meet a friend before she catches a train to the other side of the country and you both fancy a cheap Thai feast in Holborn, then I will choose tech to enable the night to go to plan and to time.

In conclusion then, for me – tech is a tool for when you need it, yes it can enhance and connect you in ways you never imagined were possible but without a balance, tech can dampen your sense of adventure and fun.

Why pretend to swing a hula hoop via a games console when you can go and buy one and have some real fun?

Don’t get me started on the notion of exercising via a games console…

Go. For. A. Run.

(In.The. Mud.)

A case of the ‘Mondays’…?

So, I have ‘blog and social media activity envy’. I’m all thunk-ed out thinking about it.

I have seen so many aesthetically pleasing blogs since I started mine and it’s  all very inspiring. However… I am struggling to find the time to actually pimp my blog to the degree where I can happily shout about my ravings and proudly direct friends this way.

Is it rude of me to ask the obvious I wonder?

How long does one spend on ones blog each week? And is it something that one tends to and nutures during working hours? There are some admirable uber-bloggers out there, cap off to you all – but really, how long do you spend researching and creating  your posts?

I am merely green – not critical.

Which leads me to another point of possible contention…

Is it just me or can engaging with social media in general be quite exhausting? I’m starting to think I can only be truly ‘social-media-ized’ if I cut out all face to face activity in my life (this would be wrong).

Hear me out; I enjoy the social media that I personally engage with but sometimes get frustrated when I see something I’d like to comment upon, or even add to Delicious for example and I don’t have time, or when someone has tagged me in 8 photos on FB from 1996 and tag removal is required as soon as is humanly possibly…

Blip.fm for example has had to become a  ‘Friday treat’, if I get to it any earlier in the week it is a bonus. Friday is clear day for me, I tend to not have meetings on a Friday and sharing tunes or ‘djing’, as I like to think of it, is  a reward. It’s something to get me through the documents, briefs and admin I haven’t managed to tackle Mon – Thurs.

How long before we (or maybe just I?) need a ‘social media assistant’ in order to help feed various social media outlets and needs?

What’s that you say? Time Man-age-ment? Never heard of it.

Is social media a bit like keeping up with the Jones’s perhaps?

I’m sure it was much easier to just buy a Ford Mondeo and keep it for a few years  rather than to suddenly find the time to engage with all of the latest social media ‘opportunities’ out there, ready for your next over the fence exchange with the Jones’s…?

Conversely, I am however addicted to Twitter. Twitter works for me because I can fire off a text and it updates my account in seconds – I don’t have to be online in order to engage and see what is happening in the Twitterverse. I can be waiting for a bus and I’m scrolling through Twitter on my PDA.

Twitter is a natural fit for my personality; speedy, inquisitive, need to know, lively, enquiring, on the go, input, input, need input… plus it saves the ears of many of my nearest and dearest who don’t need to know that Cafe Nero in Exmouth Market doesn’t cards and I’m pissed about that – for example.

(Ooo Twitter as therapy. Discuss.)

I guess what I’m trying to say is that Twitter kind of gives me an extra outlet for the brain garbage floating around in my head, the stuff that I like to articulate regardless of whether it is truely interesting or conversationally worthy.

Although, this doesn’t include the book my friend gave me last night: ‘Movie Cats’ – brilliantly illustrated cats in iconic movie poses, my fave so far being ‘The Good, The Bad and The Tabby’ or ‘All Quiet on the Kitten Front’ and as homage to Gene Kelly’s famous ‘Singing in the Rain’ lamppost clinch and swing; ‘Soggy Moggy’…

She was worried about the integrity of said gift I think, but really, anything that involves cats in clothes is always a winner for me but not something I necessarily want to Tweet about, as it requires more than 140 characters to fully justify that I am not mad, just easily tickled by said stimuli ;)

That’s it. Today’s 30 minutes are up.

(I love the fact that the integrated spell check here on WordPress doesn’t recognise ‘blog’).

What is my remit?

So, today I’ve got my grump on and have yet another headache – can I retire at 32 or maybe just throw in the towel for the day if not? Hurts.

Am blaming the shock of returning to work, having had a lovely two weeks away from my dusty and slow trusty PC and being thrown into working through a very complex issue and creating a very L.O.N.G doc to resolve said issue – which might not ever happen but if it does, everything will be fine.

I have one major thing left to do today (along with the smaller things) but alas my productivity is challenged as I can neither a) concentrate nor and b) look at the screen (I am typing this with my eyes tightly closed and hoping for the breast – boom boom).

My first blog post is a bit of a stab in the dark, like a first album perhaps – experimental, trys hard and at risk of floppage, that is of course until I find my true [blogging] voice/style and tone…

So, what is the purpose of this blog and who am I appealing to and why?

Well, for me, this blog is purely a bit of fun – a distraction from the daily grind and a way to annotate my life choices and actions: the thoughts, feelings, jubilations and most likely frustrations and vent share them with a handful of people (mum, dad, cat…?).

If I’m honest though  – I’m addicted to Twitter and 140 characters sometimes isn’t enough for me.

That’s my remit – or your money back.