Going Off The Grid

I live a very connected life. My boyfriend and I counted 10 different systems that connect to the internet in our household. Our household of 2 people and 1 cat and 1 dog. When i'm not face-to-face with a client, or doing a training, my work is almost entirely online; writing, outreach and scheduling. I love twitter, instagram, facebook, blogging, gmail and outlook. But it can be a little much

Challenge to myself: 3 days of no phone, no computer, no ipad. Yes all of Labor Day Weekend

I read. We talked. We went to the Berkshires. I got ice cream without instagraming it. I made meals that didn't have to be recorded. Most importantly, the world did not collapse because I wasn't responding to emails on the weekend or tweeting up a storm. I did have a very realistic dream that i was checking my gmail and had 400 unread messages. (not too far from reality-Tuesday morning=300 unread).  When you start dreaming about tech connectivity that's when it starts to get scary.

Like Jenna Wortham put in her great NYTimes article about turning off her phone:

"My revelation — relearning the beauty of living in the moment, devoid of any digital link — may seem silly to people who are less attached to their devices. But for many people, smartphones and social networks have become lifelines — appendages that they are rarely without. As such, they can sway our moods, decisions and feelings."

You're going to want to read the rest here 

Because FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is a scary reality in our world (as Steph explained here) It's time that all took some time to learn JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out)

I'm going to go back to my  tweeting, blogging, emailing and writing with a reminder that it is OKAY and in fact, NECCESARY to turn it all off every once in awhile.

How connected are you and how do you feel about that?

Body-Positive Social Media

  Yes you can read the headlines that scream Facebook Breeds Narcissism or maybe those are the Twitter users. And thinspo/fitspo will always plague blogs, pinterest, instagram and tumblr. 

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However, we Guiltless Gals believe that we can use the power of social media for good and not evil and work to make add some body positive conversation to those social networks on a daily basis. We're tweeting, facebooking and pinning to change the world-right? Media can shape our life, so we have to create the media that does that in a healthy way. And we'd love for you to join the conversation!

• Pin Self-Esteem boosting quotes and inspirational images instead of thinspo/fitspo

• Don't tweet yourself down. Celebrate your achievements, congratulate other people, but leave the body hating at home.  
• Share links to body-positive websites/blogs on Facebook instead of using it as a tool to compare yourself to others. 
• Feel like you lack content? Retweet others' posts, share things on facebook and pin away! Or how about tweeting an affirmation a day?
• Share beautiful notes on your social networks

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• Join Marci Anderson MS, RD and Dr. Deah Schwartz for a twitter chat on keeping a healthy body image in the summer months this Wednesday at 8:30pm EST (see more details here)
• Join the Me Movement (follow all tweets that have #mefirst)

What ways do you stay body positive on the internet?