Why you need to read Ctrl Alt Delete by Emma Gannon
Ask any of my friends and they will tell you...Steph is not a 'book person'. Paperback or electronic, I'm the type of person who picks a book up and puts it down again after a few chapters and will leave it for a couple weeks.
When I started listening to the podcasts of the brilliant, Emma Gannon, I quickly realised that her book would be something I would love to read.
Ctrl Alt Delete: How I Grew Up Online, is an honest and hilarious book that resonates with me for a whole host of reasons. Emma and are similar ages and have had a very similar career path, in that we worked as PR interns moving into social media and blogging is a much loved hobby.
She has also interviewed by bestie, IntheFrow, on her career in the blogging and the online world. I remember Vick and I having conversations back in 2010 about 'the world of blogging' in the little house we shared in Salford. I had just started my first job out of uni as an junior digital marketing executive and Vick had started her PHD in mobile commerce and fashion.
Reading Emma's book has so many relatable points from childhood through to my adult life. From being addicted to paint through to teaching people 'how to do social media'; I'm sure most of my family are convinced that I too "just sit and tweet all day for a brand". But what Emma also covers are those important milestones within your life and so I wanted to share some of my favourite quotes / chapters from this book.
The Friendship Pyramid:
Best friends, who are just there, all the time. You never leave each other alone. You have pointless chats in WhatsApp groups that constantly drain your battery and make you snort on public transport ~ Emma Gannon
This quote ^ made me open up my WhatsApp and count the number of randomly named groups me and my best friends have. I counted four. All with the same people, just different and random topics that we discuss in each. As some of you will know, my best friends live all over the county and so for us communication is important. We speak almost every day and that means that when we see each other face to face, it's like no time has ever passed.
Just Another Wordpress Blog:
It's your domain name, your rules, your content, your words, your personal magazine that documents your life. ~ Emma Gannon
When I started writing Eat Travel Love back in 2010, I was excited at the idea of getting my ideas down on digital paper. I was starting to experience the world through travel and wanted a place to share my life adventures with people. I had no idea what I was doing, what 'good' blog content looked like. But over the years, I have just made content that's suits me.
Internet Tribes:
Seth Godin describes tribes in this way: "Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make a big change" ~ Emma Gannon
From backpacking to travelling 365 days a year to one off trips, for me travel bloggers are a 'tribe' with a common thought... to experience new cultures and to share them with other people who can become inspired.
I would count myself within this tribe, I love to share my travel experiences, short and and long, with the hope of inspiring other people who love to travel.
However, I see this very much as a two way relationship. My favourite thing about following the 'tribe' of travellers is to inspire myself. I love to see how they discover, plan and embrace those amazing moments that happen with we travel to a new place.
To be honest, I could continue to pull out more extracts from this book which resonate with me in so many ways, but I don't want to spoil the book for you. All I can say is that if you're a kid who loved MSN, used to code your own MySpace, work in the social media or just grew up with the online boom, then this is a book for you.
