You just cant help but to read what Jan Moir writes, this morning was no exception to me when I read her article about how oh-so public tweeting of condolence by celebrities is offensive, narcissistic & trite. I wasn't too sure what to think, I shared it on twitter (as you do) to see what others thought.

Jan talks about the sad lost of Amanda's baby at 7 months, something no parent should ever have to suffer or go through. She waited until she was 6 months to announce the pregnancy as she had previously suffered a miscarriage at 4 months. Her husband has took her and their 5 year old away from the public eye so that they can grieve in private.

Something happened to me last year, it wasn't anything like a miscarriage. It still effected in me in a way where I was needing and wanted to be comforted, I didn't know who else to turn to so I told twitter and shared it with my twitter friends/followers who in return comforted, shared there own stories of the situation and gave me the comfort I sought. Should that of only been the case when James Cordon and Emma Bunton tweeted Amanda Holden sending there condolences, should they of only tweeted her if she sent out a tweet about it in which return they could of replied with there condolences?

To me I think it's down to the person and how they prefer to receive condolence, Amanda may log into her twitter account in the next few days and see these messages of love and support from both celebs and non-celebs and feel confronted by them.


Would love to know what you think on the matter, should condolences be kept personal and private?

It's no secret that the Internet is a big BIG place , which is and can be just as scary as the real world. I know we all want to pretend that it's as safe as being wrapped in cotton wool, but the truth is it's not.

I admit to having a large presence online , I am a member of many websites such as facebook , twitter and forums. I've always been a 'online' person since a young-ish age but I never went into a chat room or abused the Internet in a way which alot of other youngsters do these days. But then technology over the last 10 years has become more 'in your face' and it is simply everywhere you turn. Most mobiles are now smartphones which allow you to access the Internet just about anywhere , and even popular kids gaming devices such as the nintendo DS let you access the web with its built in wi-fi capacity.

The Internet is a place you cannot trust, I learnt this for myself the moment I first logged on to the world wide web. At school we used to outsmart out teachers with what we could do when it came to the Internet , we knew all the hacks to get onto our social networks and no matter how safe the safe search was we could still access pictures we shouldn't of seen at our age. The Internet should carry one huge safety precaution because of the dangers it contains and can create.

Only just a few months ago I was slagged off like crazy by a mums internet forum after they got wind of my social services post. Not because of the situation but because they saw my blog and saw that I write about my child , can you believe it? A mummy blogger writing about her child? Shock! Horror!
Yes I call my son Oli in my posts but how do you know that's even his real name? How do you know the pictures I post are even of my child? More Then Just A Mother has recently posted about How To Blog Safely.


I know the risks I take with blogging , by using 'real' names and 'real' photos. But how about the risks with something like foursquare?



I got caught in the excitement of foursquare , I though cooool.. I can let everyone know where I am. That was until I really thought about it. Why would I want to let people know where I am?? Ok I suppose foursquare has its advantages - I can get 20% off at weatherspoon or even a free pizza at domino's if I become mayor but apart from that what else does it have to offer?

Oh yeah.. it lets potential thief's know that you're not at home , foursquare-ing from my exotic holiday in the Caribbean is not exactly a smart move when potential thief's are scowling foursquare or wherever I publish my foursquare feed too for empty houses to ransack.

And how about the lack of age restrictions? Yes I know anyone can lie about there age , but at least the warning would be there when they go to sign up. The current age related message which pops up when you sign up is 'Foursquare requires all users to provide their real date of birth to provide only age-appropriate access to content. This information will not be shared with other foursquare users.'
The terms state that the service is available to 13 years + . So your 13 year old who's been given a mobile for safety reasons could be using the foursquare app to let those 'naughty' people know exactly where he or she is at anytime they update it.

It's not just foursquare which gives us the option of people knowing our whereabouts Twitter & Facebook have also got in on this craze by installing places on to your page. I quickly opted out of this on both twitter and facebook. After all why would it interest my friends for me to say I'm at the dentist? If they wanted to know I'm at the dentist all they have to do is check my twitter timeline where I would of most likely tweeted 'Am off to the dentist , am crapping myself' .


I've not deleted my foursquare account yet, But it's not been updated since I came to my senses and asked myself why I was doing it.

What do you think? Is foursquare fun or is it dangerous?

Emma @ Me , The Man & The Baby