Do you need to #unplug?

How many hours a day are you plugged in - checking email, scrolling thru Facebook, tweeting, instagramming, pinning, flapping your wings - all of that? I'll admit, I spend a good part of my day in front of a screen, whether it be a little teeny one, a medium, purse-sized one, or the big one on my desk. As a writer, blogger, and involved community person, I feel justified that I "need" to be connected. But okay, maybe not as much as I am.

 

I came across the NationalDayofUnplugging.com - a site, and I guess, you could say a movement, holiday, or cause, to encourage folks to unplug - for just one day, March 7-8, sundown to sundown. Ironically, or perhaps appropriately, I found out about it in a twitter chat, hosted by @MamasMashUp, 3 bloggers who go by this joint moniker, bringing you different perspectives on motherhood. Would I commit to turning off my phone, iPad, and computer for 24 hours? Whew. Had to think about that and what else I had to do during that time.

 

I have been thinking about this idea of unplugging though.  Partly because, thanks to all of our snow days, I have realized how much of my time I do spend on the computer while my kids have been circling around trying to entertain themselves. For the record, we are all busy right now, me on this blog post, they on their math workbooks and reading.  Also, while away this past weekend without Internet access, I realized how much "free" time I had to enjoy doing stuff like reading a book and taking a nap. So I admit, I could cull a few hours and still be productive. In fact, maybe more so when I'm focused. A week or so ago, I decided that I would set a timer  for my online tasks. Amazing the amount of tasks you actually get done when you're not reading the million tweets that scroll by.

 

There's not just the time reading all the stuff, but producing it, too. How often have we gone to a show, concert, game, or even to the playground with the kids and spent most of the time trying to snap a photo, make a video clip, and post it online to share... all while missing the full enjoyment of the thing?  Admittedly, this is one of my pet peeves to be somewhere and have all these phones and iPads blocking my view; and I try not to be one of those people.

 

This idea of unplugging is two-pronged (at least in my view).  One - reducing the amount of time online for the sake of productivity. Two - encouraging and reminding us to be in the moment.

 

What about you? Or, what about your kids? Do you need to unplug, even a little bit? Will you commit to a 24-hour day or an hour a day? 

When you are plugged in, like Just Piddlin' on Facebook and follow the conversation on Twitter @JustPiddlinBlog.

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Best of Just Piddlin': Top 10 of 2013

Thanx for Just Piddlin’ along with me in 2013!

I've had a wonderful year blogging and chatting with you.  Checking over my blog posts, these were the 10 most read posts of the year (no particular order).

Working moms and stay-at-home moms, alike, were represented in these motherhood and parenting posts:

• "Lean In" Isn't Such a Bad Message
• Now That You're a Stay-at-Home Mom
• Shall We Give The Kids a Sticker for Breathing

These dishes perfect for busy moms who want home-cooked food for their busy families were popular:

• Next Best Thing to Fried Shrimp - from Witchery in the Kitchen
• Asian Chicken in the Crockpot - selected as a Circle of Moms Recipe of the Day
• And for birthdays, holidays, or any reason to have cake - Cake Decorating - tips from Fancy Cakes by Leslie

Perhaps I’m not the only one struggling with the “where’s your family from” projects, as many of you read up on Another Family Heritage Project.

Fellow yarn-holics picked up their needles for this one: My First Knit Hat

Folks were busy cleaning out their closets & looking for tips on what to do with those old clothes: Re-Use & Recycle Old Clothes

And friends were looking for answers of why they were de-friended (or justifying why they de-friended folks): 5 Reasons You & I Are No Longer Friends

Was your favorite in the top 10?

In 2014, we'll continue striving to grow Just Piddlin' and make it better - for you, the reader, and me.  To learn more about this whole blog-o-sphere, I attended 2 blogging conferences - Disney Social Media Moms and Blogalicious - conferences will be in the plans again in the coming year.  We received a pile of products and books for review which was a lot of fun and look forward to continuing to bring you great products and recommendations.

Book reviews will continue, but I’ll be changing the reading plan a bit.  I’ll let you know in the beginning of the month the Book I'm Carrying Around and invite you to read along and discuss the book with me.  (I’m busy trying to pick out what to start the year with.)

I’ll still be In the Kitchen, cooking and trying out recipes, especially anything chocolate.  Feel free to recommend any great foods or coffee/chocolate shops you think I should try if ever in your city.

And of course, I will continue to be a busy mom of 4, who is always carrying around a skein of yarn, a book, and my perceptions of the world.  I hope you’ll keep piddlin’ along with me.

Please feel free to let me know in the Comments below what you would like to see in 2014.  We'll see what we can do.

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5 Reasons You & I Are No Longer #Friends

Facebook is a funny cyber-world. We all go through some kind of thought process in “friend-ing” folks. Though every person’s criteria for clicking “accept” is different, there is some bar to be met.  On the other end, there’s the process of de-friending – the touchy, sensitive clicking someone off of your friend list, barring them from your timeline, never to know what you had for lunch again.  How many times have you seen someone post a message about being defriended?  Aren’t they so sad in their mystery and wondering why this happened to them?  I admit, I have defriended some folks. And perhaps, I have been defriended, too – but due to my tech-savviness, I don’t even know if I have been or not.

So for those who notice that you no longer see my smiling face or my status about my craziness, here are 5 reasons you may have been defriended.

You posted too many Scandal spoilers.  I wasn’t watching Scandal in season 1, so all the  posts were a mild annoyance filling up my timeline (and my Twitter feed). But by season 2, I was catching up and watching on demand. The posts weren’t so bad because I was so far behind, I didn’t know what folks were talking about yet, anyway. But now, that I am in the present season, but a few episodes behind – it’s killing me! Even if they aren’t intentional plot spoilers, I don’t want to know nothing.  All the posts of who is playing Olivia’s momma – come on, folks – I didn’t want to know her mom was going to even show up!  So, if you’re defriended, check your Scandal posts.

You posted the sex of your baby prior to its birth. Yeah, I’m one of those rare people who don’t want to know whether the baby is a boy or girl until it breathes oxygen in its lungs. I didn’t find out with any of my four and I don’t want to know any of my friends.  Yes, I did warn my god-daughter’s mother that she was free to post her sonogram if she wanted to, but if anyone commented on the gender, I was going to click the defriend button. Pregnant friends, you have been warned.

You complain too much. Oh, woe is me, nobody likes me, my life is awful, I’m so sad, but I’m not going to tell you why I’m singing the blues. Okay, then I can’t help you and you’re dragging me down. Click.  But you won’t notice anyway because you’ll be too busy waiting for comments that say “keep your head up,” “you gonna make it thru,” “I’m here for you.”  I can’t be there for you if I don’t know where you're at.

You posted too many long, sappy stories about God and faith that didn’t make any sense.  Now, I’m a Christian and I’m all for faithful encouragement, some of y’all’s Bible verses hit the mark for me on some days and I’m grateful for that unexpected little reminder and boost.  But some folks and their “true stories” of God’s will - you know the ones – they don’t build me up nor give me strength. They annoy me because they’re bad stories and I don’t believe them.  And they take up too much space on my little phone screen.

You have a perfect family.  Right now, there are towels on the bathroom floor, candy wrappers on the couch, a wet bathing suit in a swim bag, no milk in the fridge, and an unidentified pair of socks in my living room.  My kids didn’t eat their breakfast, didn’t like their lunch, and will demand pizza for dinner.  Within five minutes of being home from school, they will have argued with each other sibling, spilled a cup of apple juice, and asked me 100 questions.  Most of my week is spent as a pseudo-single mom because my husband’s job takes him to Texas or Paris or on long lunches in Virginia.  Your neat home, perfectly behaved children, happy date nights, and balanced meals affect my self-esteem.  My therapists said to defriend you.

You posted too many pictures of your pet cat. I don’t like cats. That’s all.  (I know, that makes 6, but I wanted you to know.)

If I have defriended you and you did not commit one of these atrocities, it could just be that I could not remember who you were and I needed to cull my friend list.  Nothing personal.  

Join the conversation on Facebook: Just Piddlin' with Frances - and I won't de-friend you!

What secrets do I have on FaceBook?

Facebook - the must-have social media connection to the world - is pushing us to its new TimeLine layout this week.  Or at least that's what it said on my profile.  In this new layout, I realized that I've been on FB since 2007 - wow.  That's a long time, I guess I've contributed my portion to Zuckerberg's wealth (though, I still am not sure how since I haven't paid 1 penny to check up on my friend's daily escapades).  I also now need to find a "cover photo" as if picking out a half-decent profile picture wasn't tough enough, now I've got to find one that looks good spread across the computer screen.

In addition to letting me know I still had a few days before my TimeLine would be available for all the world to see, it also gave me this instruction:

1. Review what's on your timeline now, and add or hide whatever you want.

Besides the fact that I am now confused because of all the status, news, and activities that are scattered across my page, and apparently move when something new is added, its left me wondering "what do I need to hide?"  Whatever I had said, liked, posted, played was there before.  What's going to pop up now that I'm moving to the TimeLine version?

In case I'm missing something, tell me what you hid.