How the internet connected me …

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Much has been said recently about the “negative” side of the internet, but what about the good? Cath recently wrote this short but poignant article for Parent24, in which she mentioned the fact that, because she raised her daughter without the shoulders of her own mother to rest on when times got tough, she turned to parenting forums and social media to chat to fellow moms about her parenting woes, successes and stresses.

I lost my own mom just over 11 years ago and the the moments I’ve missed her the most have been during times I’ve felt at my most vulnerable … as a mom. So, similarly to Cath, I found most of my support online.

Just after I fell pregnant with Luca, I signed up to Baby Centre, a UK-based parenting website which allowed me to “see” Luca growing and developing in my tummy. On 5 March 2009 I started this very blog (which was previously known as “Waiting for Luca“) and, shortly after Luca was born on 25 May 2009, I discovered the Mommalicious Mammas community, which was a wealth of mom-advice, friendship and an online group of shoulders to cry on when I felt uncertain about something as a first time mom.

I discovered SO many awesome blogs, the first of which was Margot’s Jou Ma se Blog, which was actually my inspiration for to start blogging. Shortly after that I found the then-anonymous Exmi’s blog, “Expensive Mistakes & Cheap Thrills” which had me in stitches during those lonely 3am feeds.

Just take a look at my blogroll (somewhere, down there on the right sidebar!) and you’ll get an idea of how many blogs I read … and connect with. I don’t just read blogs for entertainment anymore … I read them for support. They connect me to other moms, some of whom are in a similar “situation” to me or who have the ability to make me feel like it’s all going to be okay.

There are HILARIOUS (but also touching) blogs, like my “in-the-computer-turned-IRL’ BFF Melinda’s blog. There are sites that I admire and look to for parenting tips and tricks, like my other ”in-the-computer-turned-IRL’ BFF Tanya’s fantastic parenting site. There are blogs like my friend Roz’s, which go pretty unnoticed but are honest and always heartwarming. These are all friends who I have connected with online … and there are more!

Twitter has also introduced me to a myriad of new friends and it’s all thanks to the internet.
Have you perhaps used the internet to start your own online business?

Has the internet changed the way you parent your children? Do you Google “what to feed your child when he won’t eat ANYTHING?” as much as I do? :)

Has the internet connected you to someone who you thought you’d never see again or even, to the love of your life?

Does internet connectivity form such an integral part of your life that you can’t bear to imagine life without it?

There are so many incredible stories out there … stories that should be shared, and I’d love you to share them with me! Vodacom has given me 5GB of data to unlock even more of the internet’s treasures, as well as another 5GB for one of my readers as a reward for sharing your story about how you have unlocked or want to unlock the power of the internet too!

You can either share your story as a comment on this post, or if you’re a fellow blogger, write your own “Unlocking the Power of the Internet” post and paste the link into the comments section here.

The story that I feel is the most rewarding, will get the 5GB of data next Friday, 14 September. I’m excited to read your stories :)

18 thoughts on “How the internet connected me …”

  1. Look at you, writing the blog post I was going to write. No, seriously, I was. Haha. Thank you for the thoughts. Nicki, although we’ve never met IRL I feel closer to you than I do some people I see almost every day. We share a commonality that exists beyond our respective maternal loss and straight into our mutual fretting over our motherhoods. Thank you for existing. (oh, and ps, this post isn’t to win anything. It only exists for me to say thank you for saying what I’ve been saying all along). X

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  4. The internet has been my number 1 source of information. It’s the second ‘manual’ i treasure after the Bible! As a hearing impaired teenager, i’m always left out when people discuss things they’ve seen on the TV or heard on the radio. I’m 19 years old and i’ve never heard a single conversation or address on the radio. I only hear music, with lyrics of course. On the internet i get lyrics, i get subtitles to help me watch movies without subtitles that would come on TV. (I’ll read the subtitles on my phone while watching TV simultaneously). So when my friends or other people would share things celebs said on TV or anything of that kind, i would go to the internet and search what the celebs said, when and where and voila! I don’t feel left-out anymore. In school, people doubted that i would excel being the only deaf student in the whole school. It wasn’t easy coping as i always had to work 3 times as much as other people. I would be bullied, teased and even discriminated against by a teacher! During these tough times i would go on the internet search stories of deaf people who have went through what i did or even something worse than that. Their stories gave me hope to carry on and be strong. In my matric year, i overcame adversity and went on to receive 5 distinctions and was also honoured with a medallion and my name on the school honour boards for Progress Through Tenacity. Today i am a student at an arts college, i’m still the only deaf person here and i still have to work harder, but through it all, i have the internet to help me through, after all, i’m always on the internet everyday! This is how i unlocked the power of the internet. :)

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  7. Hey there #BubbleChallenge champ :) Here’s my unlocking the power of the internet story.

    One year ago, my family and I visited my fathers friend in Namibia. I was quite excited because I’d never been out of the country before, AND, we were going to a huge farm with lots of animals and fun things to do.

    We got there, and all went well until one day my brothers decided to scare me by leaving me behind after a swim at a small dam we had stumbled upon whilst taking a drive.
    Seeing it was right about sunset, my brothers started back for the dam to get me, and obviously they couldn’t remember where the dam was!

    According to my fathers friend, there were about a hundred dams around the area, although he preferred to call them watering holes! They wouldn’t have found me in time if it weren’t for the Google Maps coordinates I sent them from my cellphone over the internet.

    If they had come an hour later, I could have been supper for some hungry hyena taking its evening drink!

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  8. Pingback: My World Is Totally Connected — Angel's Mind

  10. Pingback: Hey @AngelConradie – are you ready to #unlockthenet with @Vodacom? | One of The Boys

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