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You may remember Megan Morrone from TechTV -- or you may have heard her filling in on a podcast here or there. We've recently become reacquainted with her works through Jumping Monkeys, her blog, wherein Megan relates stories about her life as a parent of three children. She, with Leo Laporte, has just launched a new, affiliated podcast also called Jumping Monkeys, of which one episode (described as "parenting in the digital age") has been published. We listened to it and were so anxious to hear more from Megan that we hit her up for the "Three Questions . . ." treatment. To our delight, she complied.
Image courtesy of Megan Morrone
1) Anybody familiar with your history knows that technology has played a large role in your career. How has being a parent informed or modified your relationship with tech? Has technology had any impact on your parenting methods?
Becoming a parent has made me both more and less connected to technology. In those first sleepless months you are literally a slave to your nursing, crying, pooping infant. You cannot ever count on having any free time to do anything for yourself and then when you least expect it your child will take a three hour nap. I found that schedule to be very conducive to responding to e-mails, writing blog posts, or reading random things on the Internet.
That schedule is, however, not at all conducive to designing Web sites, installing huge programs, or troubleshooting your computer. If you get interrupted in those kinds of bigger projects you have to start all over again and it can be frustrating. When my children were infants, none of them seemed to understand me when I said, "Mommy can't nurse you right now, I'm in the middle of debugging this program!"
Technology has had a huge impact on my parenting methods. I've just started to let my kids play on the computer with me. We spend a lot of time on Flickr looking at pictures of airplanes and sharks. I've also gotten great parenting advice from both strangers and friends through the Internet. Without those connections I think I would have felt a lot more isolated as a new mom.
2) Personally, since becoming a father, we've sort of slipped into what we term a "Familial Myopia" (others may call it being a hermit), wherein, basically, the scope of our world and activities has become vastly reduced in order to make life as a parent managable. Of course, a few new doors have been opened as well, but by and large we've simplified things. Did you have a similar experience? What are some of the things you've done to allow your family life to coexist peacefully with career goals/extracurricular activities?
I've never heard it described quite like that, but Myopia is exactly what it is.
We simplified things in a huge way by moving out of San Francisco when I was pregnant with my first child. I marvel at my friends who manage to raise kids in the city, without all the things I take for granted -- leaving my stroller on the porch (often with my wallet in it), not having to haul my kids and all their stuff up three flights of stairs, not having to put my kids on a preschool waiting list as soon as I got pregnant.
I really miss the City, though, and start to get anxious when we don't go there at least twice a month. I know people who have grown up here (about 60 miles North of San Francisco) and never make the drive in. I don't understand it.
Another huge change I made was leaving my job at TechTV so I could work from home and spend more time with my kids. That commute into San Francisco was a killer once I returned from maternity leave. I would spend nearly the entire bus ride crying. It was 6 o'clock in the morning and everyone in their business suits and briefcases was very quiet and did their best to ignore me.
3) You've just started a podcast, Jumping Monkeys, to complement your Web site/blog of the same name. What was the impetus behind that move? Any other related projects -- or unrelated projects -- in the pipeline you'd care to let us know about?
I felt very connected to the community of people I worked with at TechTV as well as the audience of the show. I can't tell you how it feels to have a total stranger take the time to knit a baby blanket for your unborn child. That said, I knew it was the right choice to find a job that gave me the flexibility to spend more time with my kids. At the time that was freelance tech writing.
In many ways, Leo (my co-host for the podcast) wanted the same thing when he left TechTV. But instead of settling for the next best thing, he created this amazing podcast network (TwiT.tv) where he's able to do more of the content that he loves and that the audience loves than he was ever able to do at TechTV. This also allows him to spend more time with his family. He's been asking me to come up with an idea for a podcast and once my children started sleeping through the night, entertaining themselves, and basically needing me less, I finally got the idea to do a show for geek parents.
The content itself is a no-brainer. Leo has two teenagers and I have three preschoolers, so between us there's a lot to talk about. Plus, there are so many interesting geeks having kids out there. I don't think we'll ever run out of people to interview.
New projects? I just started this one last week. When I do start something new, you'll be the first to know.
Hey -- can't wait! Thanks so much for the time!
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