Hi,
Ah, the post-holiday-first-week-back situation. Washing to do, email to deal with, and the slow understanding that the afternoon nap are strictly for holiday time! Wake up, Jones! 😁Still, it’s good to be back home and enjoy the good things I have.
Inner peace, a work in progress
While I’m back to the usual dog walk route, I know the hounds enjoy the familiarity and it’s a chance for me to try to engage some mindfulness. It’s difficult when you have a busy brain; not necessarily smart nor useful, just fizzing with memories and thoughts.
But, to focus on the changing hedgerows and trees, see which flowers are out, and maybe watch the clouds go by; all of those things help disconnect from the tumble-drier of nonsense going on upstairs. Perhaps that’s as much a break from the internal noise, as it is a step outside and touching grass.
Of course I bought something
While away, it became clear that I’ve had my monies worth on the Birkenstocks I bought. I think they were purchased before 2020. Given they’re a go-to shoe during the hotter months, I think they’ve lasted well. They’ve not broken, but the footbed has lost its spring and you feel the impact of each footfall. I guess my old Birkies may do a few more years as ‘garden shoes’. The pair you keep by the door, so you can slip something on to take the recycling out*, rather than jiggering up your slippers.
[ She said ‘recycling!’ not bins! Agrh, teh bl0g iz woek!! – This comment is sponsored by RageFarms, for all your anti-social media needs. 😉 ]
So, I have ‘invested’ in a new pair. Now, given the amount of heels, boots, and related fabulous footwear, you’d like I’d be a little more laid back about such a purchase. I mean, most things these days can be delivered to your door, and you have the option to send things back. No more facing the city traffic, traipsing around the place, and hoping some random shop will have something that both fits & you like….. or maybe that’s just me and bloke shoes 😉 Other shopping is fair more pleasant 😁
Perhaps it’s because Birkies are not inexpensive and for that reason, I want to get things right. Still, after some Just Put Your Big Girl Pants On self-talk, I think I’m used to the change. Well, I say change. They’re just a different type of leather. Ah, the neurospice will flow! 🙃
Second holiday, Pippin
With Child 2.0 having the much deserved rest between school and whatever comes next, the Ever Lovely Mrs J has planned a city break for them both. Now, I am a home body and if you’ve been a regular reader for any length of time, this should not come as a surprise 🙂
Yes, I do like new places and a wee bit of travel, but I’m not great in airports (too busy), planes (pollution!), or trains (are we on the right one?).
So, it’ll be a Mum & Son trip away, where they’ll enjoy local history, cafés, and afternoon rests for reading. I’m fine with this. We’ve all be away earlier this month, so I feel my relaxation batteries suitably charged.
Looking at the weather, I dared to dream that I might get a midweek trip out, but I have a feeling it’s going to be too hot. Yes, I could get changed, sit in the car’s A/C, and then go to an air conditioned shopping centre…… but, I’m not feeling the urge to go shopping at the mo. If I was to do anything, I think it would be a visit to see something like a museum or gallery. I guess we will see and play it by ear.
A ban for TwitBookSnapGramiterrFace
The UK have followed the Australian Government’s lead and are starting ban social media for under sixteens. I am slightly torn on this, but I think it may be for the long term good.
Yes, to have something and then to have it taken away, that stings. I would say that’s as true for adults as it is for younger folk. Yes, social media can be a positive experience and can bring people together. It can also be a way for someone to ‘find their tribe’ and I think that’s vital for queer kids. I know forums aren’t exactly the Big Tech issue, but they certainly helped me out when I was finding my way around trans stuff.
Yet, for all the positives I can name, I feel that the true villain(s) of the piece – Big Tech – are not pulling their weight and it’s teens who are carrying the can. I spotted “Social media had its ‘big tobacco’ moment” from Positive.news last month (see quote) and I think the storm clouds have been gathering for a while.
On Wednesday, jurors in Los Angeles ruled that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive platforms that had damaged a young woman’s mental health.
Positive.news (May 2026) [source]
[ Yes, I’m aware of that using an AI created image is also using Big Tech. But we’re talking about social media and mental health of young folk. ]
If you forgive the metaphor, it feels as if teens are banned from driving cars because manufacturers won’t put seat belts in. Yeah, I know that was literally the 60s & 70s, but we’ve learned from then! 😁 Larks! It’s Health & Safety gone mad, when you can’t fly out of your own seat and be thrown through a sheet of toughed glass, to your death or life changing injuries?!!? 🫠
I once read the phrase “surveillance capitalism” and maybe in the past, that would be folk thinking of ‘ah, tinfoil hat brigade!‘ but like a lot of early ideas, some are a little before their time, and take a while to bubble up into mainstream culture. See also plant based milks, the surge in ‘new to you’ shopping, and other things that were once considered a bit out there 🙂
Then again, imagine saying to someone in the 90s hey, here’s a device that will track where you go, sell your secrets for adverts, and you’ll want to type all your ideas into. Oh, and if your company finds out what you really talk about, you might get the sack!
Big the big tech companies have still got folk caught up with the rage farms, slop factories, and troll-bots to keep plenty of adults hooked, angry, and sadly, ‘post-truth’. Maybe it doesn’t matter to them how nasty the place can be, so long as they are making money. But, as a friend once said to me: corporations are not your friend.
As much as banning under 16s from social media is going to sting a bit. If I may say this, if I was a teen now, I would be really ticked off the government was telling me what I can’t use. You know, in the way they don’t with bodily autonomy and transition for trans folk…. Oh wait… 🫠
Jokes aside, I would say it might be the only way Big Tech starts to actually change. That if they only care about money, then cutting off that cash stream – or as I like to refer, ‘people’ or ‘children’ 😏 – then that may be the only way to push for change. Maybe – and I can dream – something good will come out to replace it. A network that’s more protective, cares for the people using the system, and doesn’t treat them as product. Yeah, I’m an old school deluded romantic. Bite me. 😁
Oh, and just for some media levels of “balance”: some of the apps have lovely logos 😁
Modern history
In other news, I noticed a UK parliamentary petition – Launch a public inquiry into the impact of Section 28 on LGBTQ people – reached the number of votes to get the Government to discuss it. If I was a terrible cynic – what? stop looking at me like that! 😉 – I would imagine there’s little that’ll go on. At least, not much if the silence over the TV drama, Tip Toe compared to the hand wringing over Adolescence.
Yet, this feels like an open goal. A chance to point at the folly of previous governments and that the UK is better than that. That we should not go down this route again because of the harm it does to queer people, their families, and even society. That we should be wary of anyone who thinks segregation and shaming people is a good thing, that that never ends well, and is bad for everyone.
But of course, that might shine a light on what’s repeating for how trans folk are being treated (related, see here). So maybe we won’t hear anything 🤡
______________________________
…and relax
How the above ban will play out, I don’t know. I can only hope it is for the best.
As to the rest of it, it’s the weekend soon, so feet up. Please take care in the sun and do keep your pets out of the heat as best you can.
L x
Good luck with the heat. I hardly need wish you a happy time shoe shopping. Are you a trans woman or what?!
France has also voted to prevent social media use to under 15s. It’s a difficult topic but I’ve always felt the online world was a bit like the Wild West. It’s a land of opportunity but full of rustlers and rattlesnakes and the sheriff is a bit useless. Kids do need to learn to socialise normally and then, I think, start using online social tools. At present, social media seems designed mainly to hook rather than to nourish genuine social interaction, a bit like junk food. Maybe with the collapsing influence of the USA under its stable genius and his amazing sidekicks, better platforms will be developed elsewhere that are less geared to corporate profit and more to real connection with effective safeguards.
Sue xx
Heh, no need to wish a happy time shopping for shoes indeed! 🙂
Thanks for letting me know about France. I wasn’t aware they had gone the same route as well.
I did read this morning from Queer AF (see blog roll) – that some felt it would hurt rural queer kids the most. As someone from a rural area back in the day, can I say I get that? It was lonely at times and that’s hard. But, I think we may need to close the door on social media, to allow something new to come along.
In terms of new, ideally with people and nourishing loops, not addiction and doom scrolling.
Talking of the -ahem- influence (‘feculence’? 😏) of the US, there’s been a few items in the IT world, where the EU is starting to build alternative platforms. I think this is mostly coming from the concern that someone might try to hold countries hostage by their dependence on US businesses. I guess we shall see as things develop.