This, all of this. Thank you Melanie for putting into words how I feel. I don’t have a tv and don’t watch anything on my iPad. I use it for reading books, browsing Ravelry to chat with friends, a little FB again friends. Otherwise you will find me journaling, crochet or knitting, spinning reading cooking and making jams etc. if not that then out barefoot in my small garden or moon greeting. More outside and creating is my aim.
It's such a good feeling to have found that perfect arrangement, isn't it? I think the scale needs to be tipped back towards the internet as a tool to be used by us, rather than for us to be the tools that are used by big corporations. I remember the days when it was the former. Like you, my preferences are definitely more outside and more creativity. xo
Yes as I’m now in my 8th decade I can see how much more simpler accessing the internet was in some ways. Once you got online there was no where near as much being pushed on you. Bulletin board days 😄
Oh my goodness, I was going to give you a shout-out of gratitude that you were embracing things like textile arts, handwritten journals, and moon gazing, because something about your writing made me think you were quite young. Well, I still extend a deep bow of gratitude. I'm in my 7th decade and love all those things, plus writing, watercolors, drawing, and quilting. Lots of walks through the woods with my dog, both night and day. The world feels right then.
My creativity tells me I’m wasting time on the net and so I will get up and go write or go make, but going online is the first thing I do (Substack is my first stop because at least it’s not scrolling—although today I needed to check the time of an appointment and found messages waiting for me in Discord) and it’s the last thing I do (but I am attempting to switch that to reading). I’ve decided not to live the Instagram life and just post whatever or not at all there, depending how I feel. (Although I made a few reels that are fun). And as someone who is fair-skinned, outside is just a no. Maybe I lived in my ancestral homeland it’s be different but rare are the days of “so sun protection required” where I live.
I think you hit the spot when you said you made a few reels that were fun --- if it's fun, then we're still the ones driving the bus, so to speak, rather than having someone (which is to say, a corporate behemoth) pulling our strings. A terrible mixed metaphor, but I'm sure you get the drift :). And I get you on the outdoor time -- I try to get out in the very early morning before the sun is quite up, otherwise resign myself to being slathered in sunscreen. xo
The sun creates huge issues for me as well. I had two eye surgeries at the beginning of this year and it appears that I have a permanent sensitivity to bright light, so I wear dark sunglasses much of the time and all of the time that I am outdoors. I also have an autoimmune/nervous system issue that causes me to break out in hives if I am in the sun too long (more than 20-30 minutes). I have discovered that long sleeved linen blouses and linen pants or long skirt with a big sun hat help me to be able to garden longer. Yay, natural plant fibers! I still limit my time to 1-2 hours early in the morning when the sun is low and sometimes another hour in the evening. I also use lots of Lemon Balm and Motherwort in various forms (tea, tincture, glycerite) to manage that.
Once again, you manage to round up the herd of cats that are my own thoughts and feelings and you clarify what the nub of it all actually is...and why my own reluctance to produce more "content" has had me lapsing into an exhausted silence. It's all of this. Plus a few other things in the mix, (I find it distasteful to be producing content for the attention economy, because yes, it's distracting us from our spiral downwards).
Your last home sounds so much like my own that I moved from that it's spooky.
And that book by Mark Boyle is one of my own favourites. It's very well-thumbed now and I've lapped up every interview I can find with him over the years. My brain waves seem to settle into a more peaceful rhythm when I step "outside" of internet time. Now being offline feels like a luxury since I make my living on the internet. But it does help me create boundaries around it because it's mostly just work for me. I'd rather be walking in the forest in my downtime.
There's always friction when we're more or less dependent on the internet for our livings, isn't there? I feel quite resentful sometimes, until i remind myself that it's actually a far lesser evil than the alternative (for me, anyway) and so try to counter that resentment with a dose of gratitude. I suppose that's why I grapple with the idea so much -- trying to find a sense of ease at being so close to the mouth of the devil's cave, as it were. ;) It's definitely a case of making sure we have those boundaries - something I'm finder easier and easier as I see how toxic the online world is becoming. xo
Oh everything you’ve written. Yes. A complete yes. I am so at a loss for how to find a balance. I am on the throes of embarking on an outside the box artistic and creative path that in no way can be supported by the 30,000 people in my conservative rural county. So I find myself relying on and intentionally turning to the wider webs to help get my work out into the world. Yet a more analog life would be most welcome. I like you have many questions but not a lot of answers. But these conversations - digital as they may be - keep me connected to others of like mind and that is salvation right there. So there’s that too. Oof. 😅💙
Exactly so -- the kind of work we do needs a larger audience, perhaps a different one, to the one in our immediate vicinity -- so how to do that without losing ourselves? I guess all we can do is keep asking (and living) the questions and remembering to protect our souls against the ravages of it all ;) xo
Related to this, you might enjoy reading (if you haven't already) Less by Patrick Grant - he is one of the presenters of the Great British Sewing Bee and a master tailor on Savile Row. He talks a lot in the book about what constitutes good work and although the book is tangential to what you're discussing here it's very much of a similar mindset. I think you'd enjoy it.
This is especially interesting and thought-provoking right now because I just returned home to the city after almost two weeks of being in the north. Yes, there was internet and streaming but apart from checking blogs and mail, I didn't spend my life on it -- or listening to news, which I tend to have on for noise at home because the silence with my tinnitus is too distracting. At the lake I was reading and painting and walking and writing. We listened to the classical station on the radio. Things I parse out at home amidst all the other chores of daily life, then crashing in front of telly at night. Granted, good telly, but still... It's an interesting thing -- a bit of a shock traveling in either direction. But a good thing overall, I think. Though I'll admit it makes me feel more isolated and less connected to the world. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
I wonder, though, if that's a genuine connection - or, as you say, a 'sense' of connection, without it really being so? This is where I struggle. It's been said that in a world where we're supposedly so connected with one another, we're actually the most isolated we've ever been. I think there can be a false sense of community sometimes AND, I also feel like I've made some of the most deep and lasting friendships of my life with people I've never met in person, and probably never will. So that's where the more questions than answers happen.
I do like to challenge myself to be mindful of what I *think* I need to know, and what I can do very well without....so how much time do I really need to be spending reading/viewing things online, where that time might be more nourishingly spent elsewhere. It's a balance...or perhaps it's more of a tilting scale that never quite settles into place.
Those two weeks sound like a little slice of heaven :) xo
I've saved the interview of Mark Boyle to listen to tonight and I have downloaded The Way Home to my e-reader. Oh, the irony, which is not lost on me, of these quick technology connections. But my e-reader is saving what I have left of my eyesight and I know I will appreciate having a sense of the author's perspective by watching the interview. I wish we could sit around a kitchen table over a pot of wild herb tea and just talk. I can't believe how many points of similarity we share. I think this quote is something I will be reflecting on and digging into (in my handwritten journal) for a while: "I don’t believe we all need to live in off-grid cabins or work on a farm to feel that feeling of aliveness that Mr. Boyle talked about — it’s about what constitutes meaningful activity for each person — but I do think we need to be less in our heads and more in our bodies, however that looks. I think we need to get our hands in dirt and our eyes on green things."
I'd love to know what you think of both the interview and the book, Leenie. And yes, the irony of the quick connections...but there again, it's technology as a tool, something to use, rather than to be used by. I would love a kitchen table chat...and one with wild herb tea would be even better! xo
This, all of this. Thank you Melanie for putting into words how I feel. I don’t have a tv and don’t watch anything on my iPad. I use it for reading books, browsing Ravelry to chat with friends, a little FB again friends. Otherwise you will find me journaling, crochet or knitting, spinning reading cooking and making jams etc. if not that then out barefoot in my small garden or moon greeting. More outside and creating is my aim.
It's such a good feeling to have found that perfect arrangement, isn't it? I think the scale needs to be tipped back towards the internet as a tool to be used by us, rather than for us to be the tools that are used by big corporations. I remember the days when it was the former. Like you, my preferences are definitely more outside and more creativity. xo
Yes as I’m now in my 8th decade I can see how much more simpler accessing the internet was in some ways. Once you got online there was no where near as much being pushed on you. Bulletin board days 😄
YES!!! Those were the glory days of the internet 😆…it was a quieter, kinder place back then .
Oh my goodness, I was going to give you a shout-out of gratitude that you were embracing things like textile arts, handwritten journals, and moon gazing, because something about your writing made me think you were quite young. Well, I still extend a deep bow of gratitude. I'm in my 7th decade and love all those things, plus writing, watercolors, drawing, and quilting. Lots of walks through the woods with my dog, both night and day. The world feels right then.
My creativity tells me I’m wasting time on the net and so I will get up and go write or go make, but going online is the first thing I do (Substack is my first stop because at least it’s not scrolling—although today I needed to check the time of an appointment and found messages waiting for me in Discord) and it’s the last thing I do (but I am attempting to switch that to reading). I’ve decided not to live the Instagram life and just post whatever or not at all there, depending how I feel. (Although I made a few reels that are fun). And as someone who is fair-skinned, outside is just a no. Maybe I lived in my ancestral homeland it’s be different but rare are the days of “so sun protection required” where I live.
I think you hit the spot when you said you made a few reels that were fun --- if it's fun, then we're still the ones driving the bus, so to speak, rather than having someone (which is to say, a corporate behemoth) pulling our strings. A terrible mixed metaphor, but I'm sure you get the drift :). And I get you on the outdoor time -- I try to get out in the very early morning before the sun is quite up, otherwise resign myself to being slathered in sunscreen. xo
The sun creates huge issues for me as well. I had two eye surgeries at the beginning of this year and it appears that I have a permanent sensitivity to bright light, so I wear dark sunglasses much of the time and all of the time that I am outdoors. I also have an autoimmune/nervous system issue that causes me to break out in hives if I am in the sun too long (more than 20-30 minutes). I have discovered that long sleeved linen blouses and linen pants or long skirt with a big sun hat help me to be able to garden longer. Yay, natural plant fibers! I still limit my time to 1-2 hours early in the morning when the sun is low and sometimes another hour in the evening. I also use lots of Lemon Balm and Motherwort in various forms (tea, tincture, glycerite) to manage that.
Once again, you manage to round up the herd of cats that are my own thoughts and feelings and you clarify what the nub of it all actually is...and why my own reluctance to produce more "content" has had me lapsing into an exhausted silence. It's all of this. Plus a few other things in the mix, (I find it distasteful to be producing content for the attention economy, because yes, it's distracting us from our spiral downwards).
Your last home sounds so much like my own that I moved from that it's spooky.
And that book by Mark Boyle is one of my own favourites. It's very well-thumbed now and I've lapped up every interview I can find with him over the years. My brain waves seem to settle into a more peaceful rhythm when I step "outside" of internet time. Now being offline feels like a luxury since I make my living on the internet. But it does help me create boundaries around it because it's mostly just work for me. I'd rather be walking in the forest in my downtime.
There's always friction when we're more or less dependent on the internet for our livings, isn't there? I feel quite resentful sometimes, until i remind myself that it's actually a far lesser evil than the alternative (for me, anyway) and so try to counter that resentment with a dose of gratitude. I suppose that's why I grapple with the idea so much -- trying to find a sense of ease at being so close to the mouth of the devil's cave, as it were. ;) It's definitely a case of making sure we have those boundaries - something I'm finder easier and easier as I see how toxic the online world is becoming. xo
Oh everything you’ve written. Yes. A complete yes. I am so at a loss for how to find a balance. I am on the throes of embarking on an outside the box artistic and creative path that in no way can be supported by the 30,000 people in my conservative rural county. So I find myself relying on and intentionally turning to the wider webs to help get my work out into the world. Yet a more analog life would be most welcome. I like you have many questions but not a lot of answers. But these conversations - digital as they may be - keep me connected to others of like mind and that is salvation right there. So there’s that too. Oof. 😅💙
Exactly so -- the kind of work we do needs a larger audience, perhaps a different one, to the one in our immediate vicinity -- so how to do that without losing ourselves? I guess all we can do is keep asking (and living) the questions and remembering to protect our souls against the ravages of it all ;) xo
Related to this, you might enjoy reading (if you haven't already) Less by Patrick Grant - he is one of the presenters of the Great British Sewing Bee and a master tailor on Savile Row. He talks a lot in the book about what constitutes good work and although the book is tangential to what you're discussing here it's very much of a similar mindset. I think you'd enjoy it.
Well, you know I love a book recommendation!! I'll look it up, thank you!! xo
This is especially interesting and thought-provoking right now because I just returned home to the city after almost two weeks of being in the north. Yes, there was internet and streaming but apart from checking blogs and mail, I didn't spend my life on it -- or listening to news, which I tend to have on for noise at home because the silence with my tinnitus is too distracting. At the lake I was reading and painting and walking and writing. We listened to the classical station on the radio. Things I parse out at home amidst all the other chores of daily life, then crashing in front of telly at night. Granted, good telly, but still... It's an interesting thing -- a bit of a shock traveling in either direction. But a good thing overall, I think. Though I'll admit it makes me feel more isolated and less connected to the world. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
I wonder, though, if that's a genuine connection - or, as you say, a 'sense' of connection, without it really being so? This is where I struggle. It's been said that in a world where we're supposedly so connected with one another, we're actually the most isolated we've ever been. I think there can be a false sense of community sometimes AND, I also feel like I've made some of the most deep and lasting friendships of my life with people I've never met in person, and probably never will. So that's where the more questions than answers happen.
I do like to challenge myself to be mindful of what I *think* I need to know, and what I can do very well without....so how much time do I really need to be spending reading/viewing things online, where that time might be more nourishingly spent elsewhere. It's a balance...or perhaps it's more of a tilting scale that never quite settles into place.
Those two weeks sound like a little slice of heaven :) xo
I've saved the interview of Mark Boyle to listen to tonight and I have downloaded The Way Home to my e-reader. Oh, the irony, which is not lost on me, of these quick technology connections. But my e-reader is saving what I have left of my eyesight and I know I will appreciate having a sense of the author's perspective by watching the interview. I wish we could sit around a kitchen table over a pot of wild herb tea and just talk. I can't believe how many points of similarity we share. I think this quote is something I will be reflecting on and digging into (in my handwritten journal) for a while: "I don’t believe we all need to live in off-grid cabins or work on a farm to feel that feeling of aliveness that Mr. Boyle talked about — it’s about what constitutes meaningful activity for each person — but I do think we need to be less in our heads and more in our bodies, however that looks. I think we need to get our hands in dirt and our eyes on green things."
I'd love to know what you think of both the interview and the book, Leenie. And yes, the irony of the quick connections...but there again, it's technology as a tool, something to use, rather than to be used by. I would love a kitchen table chat...and one with wild herb tea would be even better! xo