Speaker1: For many new moms the internet has become a life support system especially when they are stuck at home for weeks or even months on in. In today's discussion we are going to discover just how widen that you can cast using the World Wide Web. I would like for you to tell me a little bit about yourselves, Eva?
Eva: I have a 3 year old daughter, prior to my daughter being born I was a teacher middle school teacher. So right now I only use the online communities as a resource for information in the middle on the night when I can get to either a doctor or someone who is professional in the field.
Speaker1: How about you Lisa what you have to say about the online communities.
Lisa: Well basically I was a Group Supervisor before I had my daughter a year and half ago and I went from a very intensely social job working 14 to 16 hours a day on top of people to being at home being a full time mom to a baby so I felt very isolated and so I kind of started finding out about these online mom websites and it became a way for me to sort of connect with other moms and meet other people and feel like I was being socially when I was home taking care of a new born and it gave me a chance to really connect and interact with others mothers, it's been wonderful.
Speaker1: And Sandy tell us about what you do for us.
Sandy: Well I have actually been on the internet since right on the college and my whole life is basically been interactive through internet so, of course when I have my children the first thing I wanted to do is share that with my friends and family oversea so a lot of time I will talk about party training and whatever and share all the experiences and photos with the people I that can be in Atlanta to experiencing with us.
Unknown Speaker: I crashed Kathy's round here because I know nothing I am a bit of nervous to the computer I am going to know how to use it, but what is blogging, for me it became an outlet I was a writer before I had a baby so it became this wonderful way to sort of right about my daughter on daily basis questions that I had about her just experiences that I had with her to keep a record of her as she grew up and also to provide information to other moms because when you are mom there is no instruction manual, you really don't know what you are doing so it's like I started reading other blogs to sort of get information.
From people who has experience because a lot of times the books just don't tell you what you need at that moments, sometimes your questions are very specific. So that's what so great about blogging and the mom blog websites is you really can get a lot of great information right at your fingertips.
Speaker1: Why are people and moms so into these online communities now?
Eva: Well for moms like me it's a quick resource its fast I can access this information at 2 and 3 in the morning and it's done.
Sandy: But it's also information from your peers it's more in a relatable level where you can go to somebody who has had a 3 old that just fall down the stairs and you go online and you read at least the same thing happen at least now she can share her experience and now I am not so freaked out now I know what to do because she has put it out there for me now I don't have to wait to the next day to call my doctor and it just go comforting effect that it has.
Speaker1: Are there parameter in a fact that you feel safe, you are not getting information from whackos.
Unknown Speaker: I am sorry,
Speaker1: Right I mean seriously how do you know?
Sandy: Well this is an important point too because actually most of the mom websites I think all of the mom websites require you to sort of do a profile and sign in and give them a little information about yourself, because in case you are posting content that they consider questionable they can reach you.
Unknown Speaker: All you have to use the information to your own discretion I mean
Sandy: If it makes sense to you then say hey this makes sense I am going to do this, if it doesn't then you are mom, you are smart women you are going to make the decision.
Speaker1: You use the online community for your own self health program a bit.
Lisa: I know for me specially in the beginning I really was hard on myself I finally had this baby that I really-really wanted and I was crazy in love with, but I wasn't happy and then I read about a women who wrote about how she had this experience with her son or she just kind of lost her patients and she had run on the room and she went and sat in the closet and cry for five minutes and just knowing that it happens to other people helps you get through it in better.
Sandy: Parents and families in general there are a lot of experience is that we go through especially with kids around that we have to get answers without having the way to the next day make a phone call other people can go online and read what was asked it may be the exact situation, it may be a similar situation.
Unknown Speaker: And it's free.
Sandy: Yes 24X7.
Eva: You will increase your friendship by 100s. Absolutely instead of having 10 friends that you can call now you can access 100 friends within an hour or two.
Speaker1: Who knows a little bit about Netiquette?
Lisa: Well the websites that I blog for all have a series of guidelines that they kind of request for instance if there is a product that you absolutely love you can may be talk about it but you don't want to plug it all the time. You know obviously they ask you not to use certain language and to consider that your audience is mothers and that the content will monitored.
Unknown Speaker: So what do you think is too much because my fears I know we have talked about it, do you sense it yourself, do you tell everything.
Sandy: I will tell you when I blog I tell it like it is, I say everything from exactly what happen and how I feel and I how interpreted it, how I think my husband interpreted it, how my kids interpreted it. I want to be out there and share experiences and learn from other people's experiences and quite possibly benefit myself and not make the same mistake twice it is sort of like best practices.
Lisa: I am pretty open to I mean about what I have in there, if I have an on going situation I will kind of not talk about it too much because I sort of want the revolution to come before I really come out and come clean with it and I also want to respect my partner and not too much our relationship because that's not in his control and just add a fairness to him, but I am pretty open at particularly with my emotions and how I feel about my daughter and that's where I really connected with people that's where I find people really respond really just like you finally put into words how a mother feels about her children and that meant so much to me when somebody said that.
Unknown Speaker: We are speaking about partners and children are they reading your blogs?
Lisa: No.
Sandy: My children do not read my book.
Speaker1: And you partner?
Lisa: He knows about it but he refuses to read it because he is afraid of what I am writing.
Sandy: My husband reads my blog and I think it gets him a better understand of me and I didn't know he was reading until one time I we had an argument and I wrote how I was feeling and he responded with a very heartbreaking response I said it to several people and they cried and I cried every time I read it and I realize that it was helping our relationship at a level, it was helping us to communicate.
Speaker1: So you do find your online communities are bit therapeutic?
Sandy: Absolutely, I mean it's a free therapy.
Eva: It's just helpful for me, it's a wonderful-wonderful resource.
Speaker1: Well thank you so much ladies. I am going to start blogging.
Unknown Speaker: Me too I am going to get motivated.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services