Another 15-minute free-write ramble… Today’s topic is ‘social media detox’ in order to create time and space to write, which is guess is worthy but not exactly exciting… I don’t own a smartphone or tablet as I simply can’t use them. I’ve had to learn to do everything left-handed since the stroke and my lack of dexterity means I can’t swipe/tap onscreen correctly… I confess it’s not much of a loss 🙂 I use my granny doro mobile to text/phone and my trusty laptop for the internet. I have my blogroll of favourite sites (mainly blogs), I’m not a fan of Facebook, but there are groups to which I belong, I don’t use Twitter or Instagram. I have a Pinterest account but I don’t really use it. I recently discovered Unsplash (from whence today’s photo comes) – the photography IS amazing, but it explains why so many websites look rather samey. I prefer to use my own photos on the blog – the quality is pretty naff, but they ARE genuinely mine 🙂 Being ‘authentic’ and ‘real’ online is as important to me as being so in real-life interactions. We’re all just muddling through each day the best way we can; we’re all fighting private battles, hence BE KIND is my watch-word. The Perfect Life doesn’t exist, but ordinary, everyday Beauty does, so that’s what I seek – both online and in Life. I can’t pretend I don’t get envious – but not for the pristine insta-life or in the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) sense. No, I am envious of those who can get in their car and drive down to take their kid out for a surprise lunch (our two are making their own lives now, one in Cambridge, one in Oxford). I am envious of those who can just go a local exhibition they’ve seen advertised when they have a spare hour or two… Or go for a ramble in favourite woodland or across the nearby fields. Being dependent on others to go anywhere (both to drive and to push my wheelchair when we get there) is limiting and removes both independence and spontaneity. And having to assess if somewhere is wheelchair-accessible beforehand is just plain annoying 
So actually the internet is quite a godsend – I can ‘visit’ amazing places without physically trying to get to them. I can ‘visit’ interesting homes anywhere in the world without trying to figure out if I can get up their front step. I confess, I still prefer to do such things in paper-magazines than online. I find reading onscreen tiring and prefer reading non-glossy magazines – I recently went to a local WHSmiths and was happily amazed to see SO many magazines and books. I remember the naysayers declaring the end of real print now everything was available online. Clearly, human beings still like to physically handle a book or magazine; to flick through the pages to see if they connect with the words/images. I bought this magazine, which was a wonderful find 🙂
A Quiet Passion 
A wonderful use of your 15 minutes! Thank you for sharing your insights. x
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I am SO with you on the value of ‘being ordinary’ – and also appreciating what the ‘ordinary’ can give us – comfort, security, belonging-ness.
Regarding magazines…my dear – i have a magazine ROOM! Really! Just a box room, but it does have all my beloved magaiznes filed there – and dipped into regularly. Magazines can be expensive and mine have built up into a wonderful reference collection. Magazines are ace!!
Though i have had only a miniscule experice of the incapacity you hav had to endure, I also became deeply frustrated at my dependnce on others when my eyesight was on the blink (haha – no pun intended!!) during the earlier part of the year. I nearly went bonkers! (More bonkers than i am at present 🙂 ) – so you fill me with awe at both your equanimity of acceptance and also your striving to do what you can do by any means possible. Take a bow, Ms. Claire!
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I agree with you, our photos can’t be perfect, but they are our own and show what our eyes are seeing. And yes to hold a paper in our hands, I love the weight of a book, a magazine, and their smell, nothing better than open a new book and feel the smell of the flipping pages.
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