A Week Of... No Social Media

I like to think I’m not addicted to social media – and if you compare my use of Facebook now to when I was a student, avoiding writing a 3,000 word essay on Middle English literature by desperately hitting refresh every five seconds.

However recently I’ve become aware that I'm spending too many evenings doing little more than sitting on my phone, consuming images and thoughts shared by friends, celebrities and complete strangers on various websites and apps.

This awareness coincided with me reading a couple of interesting and slightly worrying articles (including this Guardian piece) about the amount of time teenagers are now spending on social media - and the impact its having on their interaction with the wider world.

So for the second installment of my 'A Week Of...' series, I thought I'd try giving up Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, Bloglovin', LinkedIn and Timehop . Due to work and holiday, this write-up of my experience is a little late - as will become clear.

I start my social media drought on a Sunday evening, setting myself a challenge by posting one photo on Facebook and another on Instagram - which is the seemingly random image at the top of this blog post.

Usually, within minutes of posting a pic, I’m hitting refresh to see if anyone has liked it or added a comment. This time I’ll have to accept delayed gratification… of seven days.

I worry  the crumbling city made of couscous - part of the new Tate Modern exhibitions - is a visual metaphor for my plan....

Day 1

It’s amazing what form a challenge will appear. On Monday I popped into a well-known supermarket chain to buy a packet of mints, to find one packet would cost me 65p – or for 20p, I could have three packets of the same mints. Crazy pricing!

Immediate reaction? I-must-photograph-this-and-put-it-on-Twitter. Oh wait. I can’t.

Instead I went back to the office and told my colleagues the good news. One of them set out to buy his own mints, another questioned whether I’d be making these kind of fascinating announcements all week.

After work I drive a colleague to the train station to try and locate her lost cycling helmet - for the 10 minutes I wait in the car for her, I'm at a loss of what to do. It's times like this I usually scroll through Instagram, instead I catch up on the news.

Later in the pub, watching the Wales (and England) game, I remember a funny and relevant photo my friend had stuck on Facebook a few days beforehand - I go to take my phone out my bag, then realise my mistake. Instead I describe the photo, badly.

Day 2

I spend five minutes rearranging all of my social media apps into a folder on my phone, to stop me absent-mindedly opening SnapChat. Putting in a second level of screen tapping actually seems to help break the habit.

A colleague suggests replacing mindless scrolling through Instagram with mindless strolling through the BBC News app is cheating. I vaguely agree.

Day 3

Facebook is pretty much the only way I communicate with my running club, when I'm not physically with them. They have a great page which keeps members up to date with all kinds of happenings - including what time the Wednesday track session is happening each week.

To find this out I have to text my running friend Charlotte and ask her to check the page for me. In the end I decide to spend my evening elsewhere, but it's a good job she texts back or I could've had an hour long wait on the track.

Day 4

Having worked away in Oxford all week with the distraction of other people, Thursday sees me working alone at home. It's now I realise how social media has been fuelling my procrastination - without it I have a super productive day, with no online diversions.

Thursday is also referendum voting day. Which becomes much more interesting...

Day 5

... on Friday, when I wake up to the news that Britain had voted to leave the EU. 

I could only imagine how social media had exploded. Instead I was glued to Radio 4 and the BBC News website.

The news is a lot to take in, and weirdly I feel quite relieved to not have an overwhelming avalanche of opinions (in 40 characters or less) to absorb too. Instead I talk in more detail to friends and family through texts, phone and in person.

Day 6

It's the weekend and time for the beautiful wedding of my friends Naomi and Isaac (see photos by Matt above - including a shot of the cake Elle made!)

The reception venue had no phone signal at all - which would be fine if my boyfriend, Paul was not joining the wedding late due to competing at the British Championships (good excuse).

However in order to check the results and arrange picking him up later, I need to get onto the wifi - which required liking the pub's Facebook page! Luckily the barman was happy to bypass this step by tapping in the password for me, thus avoiding social media.

Day 7

The final day. Nothing much to report - the day is spent having a lie-in, walking my parents dog (and swapping wedding stories with my parents), eating massive chicken sandwiches and listening to The Smiths on repeat.

In the evening I end the social media fast, and realise I've actually missed very little in terms of notifications. I only feel a bit bad that I've seemingly ignored a comment under one of the photos I posted this time last week.

Week conclusion

It's been a couple of weeks since my "no social media diet" - and I genuinely think I'm using Facebook and Instagram (my big two) a lot less than before and it took me a good few days to even think about opening Twitter, SnapChat or Time Hop.

I found the week itself a lot easier than I thought, but it did highlight to me how much I'd been using the apps on my phone to procrastinate - a bad habit I'm keen to break.

Having said that, I'm not it up for good. Firstly, it's pretty important to stay connected for my work, but secondly, I think there's people I would genuinely lose contact with - which would be sad.

So I'm planning to focus my social media usage on enhancing my "real" life, while doing less of the procrastinating.

Are you a little bit obsessed with your social media accounts or have you no interest? Let me know in the box below.... (you might need to click right into the post to see it!)

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A Week Of... Vegan Food

I'll admit it - I'm a sufferer of FOMO (that's 'fear or missing out'). It's in my nature to constantly  seek out new experiences, to be fascinated by other people's passions and lifestyles, and wonder how my life would be if I could just do more or less of a certain activity.

So in order to practically satisfy some of my ponderings without completely overhauling my life permanently,  I've decided to try out a few things within a limited time-frame. A week, to be precise.

First on my list: how easy would I find a week of eating a vegan diet? The rules: No animal products in my food (that includes meat, dairy, eggs and honey)

Day 1

Breakfast: Porridge made with oats and water, cooked with raspberries and topped with strawberries and almonds. Black coffee.
Lunch: Avocado and chili flakes on toast, with tomatoes and an apple.  
Dinner: Falafel burgers (recipe here), humus, harissa-spiced couscous, flatbread, roast vegetable skewers. Cocoa-peanut butter "ice-cream".
Snacks: Pear. Peanut butter (eaten off a spoon, obvs). Iced coffee with almond milk. Tea with almond milk..

Yesterday I was super excited about starting my vegan adventure. Fast-forward to 8am on Sunday and it's a different story when I add unsweetened almond milk to my coffee for the first time and promptly pour it down the sink  and declare "Life without milk is miserable!". Possible a  little premature/ridiculous a response,  likely born out of nerves. At 10.30am I have a six-mile race - the first time I've taken part in a Leicestershire Road Running League event.

Lunch is a much better, much calmer affair. I'm always happy when there's avocado involved - even if I'm missing the additional, perfectly-poached eggs topping my boyfriend's serving. The successes continue - I discover that the almond milk works much better in iced coffee (or perhaps I'm just getting used to the taste).

It's a hot day and the smell of barbecues drifts into my garden all afternoon. I get searching online and come across a simple recipe on the Minimalist Baker for baked falafel burgers - which are tasty, if a little dry (I've never been able to get falafels right). Afterwards while Paul, the boyfriend, munches on triple-chocolate cookies, I whizz up a frozen banana with cocoa powder and peanut butter - which tastes excellent.

Day 2

Breakfast: Overnight oats made with almond milk, grated pear and cinnamon, topped with coconut "yoghurt" and strawberries. Black coffee.
Lunch: Seaweed hummus, tomatoes and peppers in a sourdough cob from Modern Baker. Carrot sticks and a banana.
Dinner: Vegetable and bean chilli, with rice and nachos, plus an undressed side salad at The Plough. Mint tea.
Snacks: Almonds. Rice cakes. Tea with almond milk.

It's an easy start to the morning, having prepared our breakfasts last night. I'm actually putting a lot more thought and effort into making my food than usual - unlike Elle, I am not an enthusiastic cook and too easily fall into the trap of cooking the same meals over and over without thought for alternatives. We eat breakfast while discussing the ethics of being a consumer - deep stuff for the morning.

This is the first day I have to ask a stranger, "Is this vegan?". I'm working in Oxford today and grab a takeaway lunch from Modern Baker when I arrive. Their sourdough cobs (that's rolls for non-East Midlanders) are just so good - last week I went their two days in a row for exactly the same lunch - an aubergine, tomato and brazil pesto combo. Unfortunately this turns out not to be vegan... so I instead opt for the seaweed hummus. Not such a fan, but the bread is still incredible.

For dinner my team decide to head to The Plough - from their website I see they cater for vegetarians, but how about vegans? I give them a call...  "We can do veggie chilli without cheese... wait... is olive oil okay?" Yes it is. Later at the pub after placing our orders, the pub chef comes out to the beer garden to double-check if I'm happy with undressed salad. He also refers to me as a "food terrorist" - although his friendly manner means I don't take massive offence, especially when he follows it up with "It's up to you what choices you make". This sparks another deep conversation, exploring the various ethical and environmental factors that may influence a switch to veganism - which makes me realise how complicated the world is. I sleep very well.

Day 3

Breakfast: Porridge made with water, fresh and dried fruit. Black coffee.
Lunch: Mix of veggie bits from a salad bar - including avocado, roasted carrot and freekeh. A banana.
Dinner: A selection of vegan food from Tibits buffet. Peanut butter ice-cream and chocolate and beetroot ice-cream from Yorica!
Snacks: Almonds. Coffee with almond milk. Fresh mint tea.

Buffet breakfast in your standard hotel is not a vegan dream - animal products seem to be slipped into the most simple seeming dishes. On the upside, it's stopping me falling into the usual trap of overindulging. I'd hoped to grab lunch between two meetings, but it wasn't to be. Luckily the second was in the BBC Media Cafe, who had an excellent salad spread.

After work I headed straight out for coffee with my friend JT, who was keen to take me to try out a slightly unusual cafe - a former underground men's loo called The Attendant. The brilliance of the location made up for my sad-vegan moment of the day - for some reason the almond milk curdled in my Americano. Luckily the fresh mint tea which followed was much more appetising.

Dinner was with another friend, Bindi, who was well up for visiting the vegetarian restaurant Tibits who just so happened to have Vegan Tuesdays. It's a buffet style restaurant, where the price you pay is based on the weight of your plate. After a few days of studying ingredient lists for anything I put in my mouth, it was refreshing to just choose whatever I wanted from a large selection of dishes, without worry. Our slightly cautious response to not emptying our bank accounts at the plate weigh-in had an upside - space for pudding! After a quick online search, Bindi pulled up a winner - a "free-from" ice-cream parlor, with an entirely vegan menu. Tucking into "peanut butter" (actually toasted soy) and "chocolate" and beetroot "ice-cream" with fake Oreos on top, we both couldn't get over we weren't experiencing the real thing. London - probably unsurprisingly - is the place to be if you want to eat out as a vegan.

Day 4

Breakfast: Porridge made with water. Fresh and dried fruit and seeds. Black coffee.
Lunch: Avocado, carrot and harissa hummus wrap from Benugo. Carrot and cucumber sticks. Grapes and blueberries.
Dinner: Hip, Humble & Healthy salad box from Itsu. Muesli with raspberries and almond milk.
Snacks: Tea with soya or almond milk. Banana. Almonds.

It's become clearly apparent I'm a creature of habit when it comes to my breakfast routines as a vegan (to be fair, this is probably true when I'm not on a plant-based diet too - I'm already thinking a future 'A Week Of...' will involve trying out new recipes to start the day). Wednesday consisted of an inspiring but tiring training course, in a windowless basement room - so imagine my delight, when in the first break I discovered the canteen at Broadcasting House had soya milk for my tea! 

Lunch was on a tight schedule, so I nipped out and grabbed a takeaway wrap - very tasty, and supplemented by extra veg and fruit. My dinner was a bit of a shambles. Whenever I'm in London for work it's pretty inevitable I'll end up at Itsu where I'll always buy the same meal. Luckily this meal turns out to be, in the words of the guy who served me, "super vegan". It wasn't however, super filling. By the time I travelled from London Paddington to New Street Birmingham, I was in need of something to stop my stomach grumbles. My solution? Buying a box of muesli and a carton of almond milk, which I ate in my hotel room, out of a cup, in my PJs. The luxury of hotel living. I'm not proud.

Day 5

Breakfast: Porridge made with water topped with berries and nuts. Fresh fruit. Black coffee.
Lunch: Jacket potato and a salad bar mix.
Dinner: Mushroom, puy lentil and butterbean burger in wholemeal cob, with onions. Sweet potato wedges, corn on the cob, salad. Chocolate covered strawberry ice-cream.
Snacks: Coffee and tea with almond/soya milk. Mixed fruit pot. An apple. Almonds.

No surprises about hotel breakfast - although the berries were a bonus. I was hoping to head out into Birmingham to one of the vegan-friendly cafes I'd researched, but time-constraints we were restricted to another BBC canteen. Jacket potato and a mix of salad - nothing to write home about.

I'm at Paul's for dinner, and after some unfocused wandering around the supermarket (as per usual) we decide to test out some pre-made "processed"  vegan offerings in the shape of mushroom and bean burgers, and vegan ice-creams. The main meal is a success, especially the sweet potato chips, but I'm not a fan of the ice-creams which just taste a bit fake. At least this prevents me eating two. It's probably at this point in the week I start to get increasingly grumpy about not having "a proper cup of tea".

Day 6

Breakfast: Porridge made with water topped with blueberries, almonds and a sprinkling of muesli. Coffee with soya milk.
Lunch: A brown cob.  Salted popcorn. A banana and apple.
Dinner: Sweet potato and spinach dhal (recipe here) with a wholemeal pitta. Strawberries, mixed nuts and a Nakd Cocoa Delight bar.
Snacks: Strawberries and almonds. Coffee and tea with almond milk.

Sorry for the slightly disgusting photo of my morning coffee, but I want to bring you some of the realities of my week - one of the mysteries of this week is why milk-substitutes occasionally do this to hot drinks, but the rest of the time mix quite easily. Odd.

My lunch is probably the least interesting of the week - I'm on the move when I suddenly get a bit light-headed and decide I need some food pronto. Unfortunately, after circling it three times, I realise the small-supermarket I'm passing doesn't have any vegan-friendly grab and go food. So I literally just eat a bread roll - followed slightly later by fruit and popcorn. Determined to make up for this let-down, I research a super-tasty recipe for dinner. I will absolutely be making this dhal recipe from BBC Good Food again! 

Day 7

Breakfast: Cinnamon porridge made with water topped with pear, strawberries and blueberries. Coffee with rice milk. Then black.
Lunch: Leftover dhal with a pitta bread. Black coffee.
Dinner: Tagliatelle Pepe E Zucchini (with gluten-free pasta) at Don Leone
Snacks: Chai

Of all the milk substitutes I've tried this week, rice milk is right at the bottom of the list. After my first taste, my hot drinks for the rest of the day are drank black. Lunch is simply the last of the dhal from last night (Paul has scrambled eggs and I genuinely feel like I've got the better deal).

In the evening we head to Leicestershire Cricket Ground to see Elton John in concert, along with my mum - but before that we go out for dinner. I ring ahead to Don Leone's to check they cater for vegans, yet there's still a little confusion over what I can eat when we arrive. Watching mum and Paul tuck into incredible looking goats cheese pizzas, I can't help but feel a little hard done by with my gluten-free pasta. It provides decent fuel to Crocodile Rock dancing, at least.

Week conclusion

It's been a mixed week of meal successes, but on the whole it's been a positive experience. Apart from a few jokes at my expense from family and friends (which I expected, largely due to the faddy nature of my experiment!), I found people pretty receptive to my dietry requirements - even if they were occasionally a little confused about what a vegan diet actually consists of (see Bindi's question below for my favorite example of this!). It's really made me appreciate how much of my "flexitarian" diet actually includes animal products, but also how removing them doesn't necessarily mean a healthier, cleaner lifestyle. I fully appreciate it's been my choice, but I definitely think I've consumed more processed foods this week than usual - largely through milk substitutes. In fact, milk was the only thing I can say I genuinely missed and couldn't wait to have again.

Meal of the week: Spinach and sweet potato dhal
Pudding of the week: Ice-cream from Yorica!
Vegan-friendly location of the week: London
Question of the week: "Is kosher salt vegan?"

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Weekend Review: David Wilson Clarke

The weekend is what you make of it - there's endless opportunities whether you're at work or play. Today we welcome our friend, David Wilson Clarke for a peek into the life of a professional photographer, and what he might keep in his fridge... 

Where do you call home?

I have a little bungalow in Shepshed, Leicestershire, next to a river. This means that to go anywhere, I go through the countryside, which I love.

What do you do for work?

I'm a full time professional photographer. I love saying that, as I've been a photographer for quite a while, but only recently take it up full time. Portraiture, performance art and dancers, as well as commercial work.

What's been your proudest career moment so far?

I photographed David Attenborough, as he was opening Attenborough Arts new gallery. I was one of quite a few photographers so getting the shot I wanted in a busy event was tricky. But, at one point, he looked directly at me for a second, and I had my shot.

And your biggest achievement outside of work?

I used to be a Mountaineer, so I think it's climbing Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe.

When is your weekend?

Work is busier on weekends, so weekends tend to be snatched hours sitting in cafés or pubs after work has finished.

How did you spend last weekend?

I was assisting another photographer on a shoot in Paris. Saturday was full on concentration, making sure everything went smoothly, then Sunday was hanging around the cafés of paris, just drinking and eating.

How typical was it for you?

There is no typical. It may be working in arts centres, sorting out the studio, collaborating with a performance artist, photographing a dancer, or like this weekend, taking portraits on an Afghan camera with Leicester Lo-Fi. Although there is bellringing on a Sunday morning at All Saints Loughborough, which is the one fixed point in my weekend.

What are you most looking forward to in the week ahead?

I'm photographing a dancer on Tuesday. This is something I started recently, after realising I didn't know how to photograph dancers in a way that I liked. I'm an unlikely dance photographer, but these things come to you, and to go with them makes life interesting.

You're ideal Sunday Menu...

Breakfast: Veggy sausage cob, with mushrooms or an egg on top, and maybe a little bit of melted cheese. All at home, then relax.

Lunch: I'm not one for a big Sunday lunch, so a cheese board (With Sparkenhoe, a Shropshire Blue and a strong Cheddar.) In a nice pub garden with a pint of Summer beer, talking rubbish with friends.

Dinner: Years ago I was working near Bath and stayed in The Tollgate Inn, Holt, Wiltshire. The food was incredible. I've always wanted to go back and see if the food was as good. So there, again, with friends, talking rubbish.

What's in your fridge?

Cheese. Then some more cheese. 

QUICK FIRE: Name your absolute favourite....

Book: Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials. 

Film: I can never decide between Léon: The Professional or Amélie

Album: The answer to this changes constantly. Currently, Grails - Deep Politics

Digital versus Film photography, which gets your vote and why?

I work a lot with both, and both have their place. If you have a job with a quick turnaround: digital. But if you want something with a little extra, with imperceptible mood, something classy and classic, the film.

How can people follow what you do and get in contact?

web: dwc-imagery.com

email: dwc@dwc-imagery.com

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DWCImagery/

twitter: @ddwwcc

flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwilsonclarke/

Instagram: @davidwilsonclarke

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