Wwoofers and computers

Yup, Eileen, I know exactly what you mean! I have 4 wonderful people working for me at the moment and they all want the internet like a baby wants the bottle! However, I only have a poor connection and can't get much done on-line. I am considering writing in my profile that internet is limited but am afraid to put people off. 'Not in the house' sounds good to me, but I think the best is to promote the wwoofing experience as one free of Face...., Twit.. and the like. BTW, I would like to encourage hosts to provide wwoofers with a gift to pass on to their next host. It is nice for them not to arrive empty handed and it would make a pleasant host link. I do it all the time and have yet to receive back...., Emer

Hello Eileen and Emer,
It is always nice to hear feedback about any issues and/or discussions.
Regarding the internet access…yes, it must be a generation thing. I am 25 years old, and I must say that I can be quite addicted to internet research when it comes to travel plans, etc. It could make it very hard on a WWOOF’er trying to schedule their next travel plans, talking with families overseas, etc without the internet, but if I was staying on a farm I would respect their rules and hope that both parties would have an understanding of each others needs. If it is on their off time, I would say that using the computer would be okay, minimal use, not all day on the weekend when they should be exploring and traveling! I am coming to Ireland late July and I have been asking farms if they have internet access, because it is good to know! If I was a farm owner/host, I would like my WWOOF’ers to engage in the family and lifestyle and not be in Twitter/facebook/etc all day!
With that said, I hope it help[s us have a better understanding of each other?

Oh yes, and I am in the process of making some gifts for the farms I work at, as well as any friendly people I come accross (couchsurfing members).

If you are interested, please feel free to contact me :)

The Oregonian, USA
Bonnie

So far I have been lucky enough that my poor internet access has kept wwoofers form over-using it but the last one who stayed here did ask every time we had a break if he could check his emails. His situation was special though as he was trying to get into a college in Canada and needed to find out whether his papers has come through. I only reaslised later that he would spend hours chatting on Facebook and the likes. In the future I will ask them to check their emails only in the evening or at the weekends. Maybe it hasn't been a problem before as I would only check my own emails two or three times a week but as I am doing a lot of research at the moment the laptop is on most of the time anyways...