Hey guess what

[KristinCB]

It is question #12985409 from me!

Are you glad that you are a mom in the age of the internet? Do you think that your life would be very different if it wasn't around?

Just curious.. it is something I think about for sure considering my job is based online etc and so much of my life really is online. I have a hard time imagining it any other way..

[nun69]

yes and no.....I think without internet I would find alot of creative ways to spend with the kids and be outside more...sadly ALL(including the kids) of us enjoy our internet/TV time cause it is actually our destress time

[jessica31876]

I would miss it for sure. A lot of my social interaction is online and I keep in touch with friends and family online as well. It can be to much at times though and defenitely opens up problems for some families...I think that they would still happen whether they had internet or not though. Overall I like it and cannot imagine not having internet though

[misfitinmn]

I cannot imagine life without the internet anymore, I am a complete addict! That said, we do unplug when we camp usually (although it makes me twitchy!!) I was actually just thinking this morning about when my wee ones grow up and get on Facebook, and how different it will be for them. Like, my mom is on Facebook but she isn't very saavy with it. It's kind of weird to think of my kids being on Facebook but...they are still pretty little!

[nun69]

Sar I am not FB savvy now lol!!! I wanted to add that I am so glad for the internet cause I have made some seriously awesome internet friends that are honest, true and just awesome all around and I can't imagine my life without them

[misfitinmn]

Originally Posted by nun69

Sar I am not FB savvy now lol!!! I wanted to add that I am so glad for the internet cause I have made some seriously awesome internet friends that are honest, true and just awesome all around and I can't imagine my life without them

I'm not really either...but much moreso than my mom!! Totally just realized I spelled savvy wrong, too. :P Of course, my children will know ALL of the ins and outs WAYYYY better than I ever will...so as smart as I feel, I know they will just be looking at me like the inept mother when they're older, too.

Oh, and I wholeheartedly agree!

[Jenn Barrette]

I couldn't imagine not being able to "google" everything; meal ideas, questions my kids ask, illness/parenting advice, etc.

[Laura_A]

For the most part, I am VERY thankful for the technology we have today. Being a military family and away from home, I am very greatful for the internet and Facebook. Without it, it would be much more difficult to stay in touch without it, especially when we were stationed overseas. It was my lifeline.

[nun69]

OMG...totally GOOGLE

[AmberK]

I can't imagine life without the internet. My husband travels a lot and we love being able to skype with him!

However, if we didnt have the technology Im sure that we would spend more time outside and together. I would probably be more interactive with my kids and not on the computer all the time.

[LeeAndra]

I've always thought I would be such a better person/mom/wife if I lived in Laura Ingalls Wilder times!

Srsly, though... knowing how to cook, sew, craft everything because it had been passed down from generation to generation, being skinny b/c I'd be working my butt off (literally!) with all the farm chores, getting enough sleep since you go to bed when it's dark and get up when it's light, setting down roots someplace since travel was so difficult and expensive, being able to allow my children to run free and explore Nature to their heart's content without worrying abt predators, simple one-gift Christmases, a 'hot' Friday night being an all-town spelling bee... sigh.

Of course, I believe that there's a reason I was born now and not then, so I will enjoy my luxuries and technology and Internets, but still... I could have totally rocked that prairie, y'all!

[jessica31876]

I totally agree LeeAndra. Sometimes I wish life could be that simple again

[kristijoy]

The internet (especially my cyber scrapbooking friends) saved me when I went through some challenging times. When I had a small baby I felt so isolated because I could be with my usual social group. That's when I started making cyber friends. And then when I had abdominal surgery 3 years ago and spent alot of time in recovery, the internet saved my sanity. That's when I found the sites that I spend the most time on now!

And...my DH works remotely. We would never be able to do that without the internet. So we have the best of both worlds. We live in the woods, can follow our kids around in nature, swim in the river, feed the goats & cows, eat farm fresh eggs. If my DH had to live close to his job, we would HAVE to be in a city with a big suburb.

[suze]

Originally Posted by Jenn Barrette

I couldn't imagine not being able to "google" everything; meal ideas, questions my kids ask, illness/parenting advice, etc.

I do this.. and its actually more of pintrest now!!

[joelsgirl]

Originally Posted by nun69

yes and no.....I think without internet I would find alot of creative ways to spend with the kids and be outside more...sadly ALL(including the kids) of us enjoy our internet/TV time cause it is actually our destress time

THIS. Or maybe I'd just be addicted to soap operas instead of the computer.

Originally Posted by LeeAndra

I've always thought I would be such a better person/mom/wife if I lived in Laura Ingalls Wilder times!

Srsly, though... knowing how to cook, sew, craft everything because it had been passed down from generation to generation, being skinny b/c I'd be working my butt off (literally!) with all the farm chores, getting enough sleep since you go to bed when it's dark and get up when it's light, setting down roots someplace since travel was so difficult and expensive, being able to allow my children to run free and explore Nature to their heart's content without worrying abt predators, simple one-gift Christmases, a 'hot' Friday night being an all-town spelling bee... sigh.

I wish I had the self control to live simply like that (minus the farm chores, of course).

I've been reading Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other. She makes some really good points about how technology makes us less competent with real people. It has made me reconsider how much we use it.

[mariewilcox]

I can't imagine life without internet, mainly because it has allowed me to work from home so I could always be home when Cheyanne gets out of school and I can be at all her games and school events without any hassle.

I use FB a lot to send and receive messages to other parents (and one of Cheyanne's basektball coaches uses FB to send messages to the team about practices and games via their private FB page for the team).

I can't imagine not having google to teach me how to do her math homework
And I would never see any TV shows that air in the evening if it weren't for Hulu and Netflix.

Surprisingly, Cheyanne doesn't use the internet all that much for a kid her age. She has a laptop and an iPod touch but doesn't spend much more than an hour total on them per week. She's too busy with sports and homework and weekends we are busy doing outdoor things usually.

[FireWolf]

My life would be so vastlydifferent if the internet didn't exist. I met my husband online and also my best friend. If it weren't for the internet I wouldn't have either of these wonderful people in my life.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Yes! (and I wouldn't be a mom right now if it weren't for the 'net! Met Dh online 17 years ago...SO thankful for it!)

Yes - tons of info on pregnancy (maybe too much?), healthy diets, education (So much that was not available pre-'net)

No - too much information, too much time spent in front of a monitor

[pewtertm]

Well, Kristin, I have to say...you asked TWO questions...so shouldn't it be 12985409 AND 12985410 from you?? :P


As far as being a mom in the age of the internet...I'm with Nika and Darcy. Since I met DH online, there's no way I would have been a mom without it. LOL

[AmberK]

I have to add as well that if the internet wasnt around I wouldnt have met my DH as well. We met online 11 years ago and will be celebrating our 10th annviersary next month!

[MamaBee]

geez, I can't even remember what I did before the internet for information!!! haha... I think they had these places called libraries?

I'm with the others - if didn't have the internet, I wouldn't be a wife/mama... met hubby there 10 years ago just celebrated 8 years, last week!

The bad side is that I spend way too much screen time - my hips don't lie... and I become easily distracted with it when I should be cleaning the house... ...

[YepBrook]

I have a love/hate relationship with the computer. In my HEART I am a simple girl... cooking, sewing, painting, being outside and getting deep into the library... homeschooling my kids... but I get so caught up on the computer! It's an easy source of information (which I love... Googling every thing I wonder about and researching things until I know all about it) and it's an easy source of creative hobbies & friendship. BUT it honestly sucks some of the pleasure away from life. Instead of calling my friends and meeting up for lunch or coffee more often, I am catching up with them on Facebook. And, instead of reading a book I'm reading blogs.

I do love the computer & internet... but I have to become disciplined to turn the thing off and go LIVE more often!!!

[NeverendingJen]

I'm not a mom yet, but the internet age is a huge part of my life. That said, I miss the simpler times of game nights with friends, neighborhood BBQ's, and unplugging for a while, so I make an effort to try and do those things still

[lizj]

If it weren't for Facebook I'd never know what my kids are up to!

[deebirks]

I've been online for so many years now...my entire adult life...I don't know what I'd be doing instead. My mom watched a lot of soap operas. My grandma called each of her friends every single day.

When my kids were little and my husband traveled way too much for work and I was miles from family and my brother was deployed...I can't imagine how isolated I would have felt if it weren't for the internet.

I'm also glad I'm internet savvy now that my kids are old enough to start getting online.

That said, I sometimes get sick of the internet. I used to have a better attention span, especially when it comes to things like reading novels. We had a huge power outage over the summer that lasted days, and while I hated that my coffeepot didn't work, I appreciated the break from the internet.

[Lyd]

I also remember the days before the internet well. My brother moved across the country in 1995, and we were the first people in our neighborhood to use email. But, back then, my mom had a super clunky modem that connected to our local library through dial up, and we used their system to send emails to my brother in Texas. Wow.

I started my first post-college, professional job that same year, and we didn't even have email or internet in our office. They existed but were still new and not widely used. My first work computer had 32 MB of RAM. CRAZY!! I don't know how that computer even functioned at all. Lol.

I would NEVER want to go back to the days when I couldn't sent emails, do research, keep in touch with family and friends, etc., etc., etc. on the computer. Certainly, there are bad things about all of it, but for me, the good outweighs the bad by a HUGE margin.

[Keely~B]

I couldn't imagine going without it, that's for sure but it's kind of a love/hate thing with me. I love the access to information, emails etc. I have to unplug every so often though, sometimes it just brings me down or overwhelms me and I need to check out.

As far as being a mom goes, again, good and bad. Being able to look everything up, the access to information, the ability to connect with people all over the world, very cool. I like that I can keep tabs on my kids. But I can't imagine navigating adolescence in the world today, even though I'm seeing it first hand. Having everything so public,permanent etc, I don't like that. I don't like the keyboard courage and over-sharing, and what it's done to real world communication. I miss handwriting, proper spelling and face to face communication. But I wouldn't go back...cha cha changes LOL

[scrapdreams]

Without the internet, I wouldn't have been able to work from home the past 9 years and be here while my daughters' were all facing their teen drama years. I was happy to be here when they needed me most.

Without the internet, I wouldn't have fantastic friends literally all over the globe!

Without the internet, would there be a Sweet Shoppe?

There are days I curse how much time sifting through blogs and emails and FB takes me, but those connections are important and honestly much less time consuming than calling all those people on the phone to check up on them. So yes, I love the internet. Cable TV... well that I could happily do without!

[LibbysMommy]

I also have a love/hate relationship with the internet. I love being able to connect with people, have a hobby in digital scrapbooking, find information, etc. At the same time I love not being connected to the internet. It actually makes me happy when I find that I haven't been on my computer all day. It is so easy to get caught up in so much extra stuff. I want to simplify and really limit my computer time so I don't miss out on all of this amazing real life stuff!!

[kelley]

I feel blessed to have internet right now. It provides work for me at home - I don't know what I'd do without my job. Also, so many things are just necessary now, and I would greatly miss them if I didn't have internet. Facebook to stay in contact, forums for social time, easy purchasing, banking, photo storage....the list goes on and on.

Granted, I think I would be fine if the internet would never had been invented.

[Sherri Tierney]

I can't imagine life without it and wouldn't want to be without it. I strongly feel that the only reason I have my daughter is the internet. I was given no answers when I lost my son. I did research on my own and developed a hypothesis that I must have an incompetent cervix. Those words were never mentioned by my specialist and my family doctor told me it was impossible because there was no 'reason' why I should have one. I was the one who asked the doctors if that could be my problem. I spent hours reading the stories of others online. If not for all of that, I would have believed the doctor who said "it was a fluke" and I would have gotten pregnant again only to lose another baby since there was no fluke to it.

[lizzyfizzy]

ya my kids were small in the ages before the interwebs were flooded with the things Jenn mentioned (and one of my kids was small before we even had a computer in our home!). i am so jealous of all the cool stuff that is out there now.

[Sherri Tierney]

I was rushed for time earlier. I'm definitely a girl of the tech age though. I used to balk at technological advances and get irritated that so many things were going towards computers. Once we got our first computer in '95 (1.2 gb hard drive and they told us it would last us forever! LOL) I never looked back. I owe so many things in my life to the Internet and technology. I wouldn't have my job if not for Facebook! LOL I became Facebook friends with my daughter's school principal and the next year during our first PTO meeting she asked me if I would like a job. When I came in to talk to her about it she said she liked how I conducted myself on facebook and she could tell I was perfect for the position. I worked the job for 2 weeks before I filled out an application. LOL Sure beats finding a job the old fashioned way.