Let’s face it, the words ‘online’ and ‘de-stress’ don’t often connect. At this award-winning Manchester PR agency we’re only too aware of the negative impact too much technology can have on our ability to keep calm, thanks in large to our work with sleep experts Silentnight and the brand’s Sleep Clinic. Put simply, if you want to rest up, turn it off. Whatever it is.
Sadly, though, as ingenious public relations professionals, we rarely have that privilege. Long hours spent researching on computers, the constant inclination to check the phone one more time before bed, and dreams dominated by an inbox are part and parcel of the job. We’re not complaining, mind, we love this kind of work, but sometimes it can be helpful to know where to go when you need something a little less serious.
Call it a how-to guide for the modern media mind, call it a simple list of hilarious Facebook Pages and Twitter accounts. Either way, Smoking Gun presents a stream of great online destinations you might want to check when everything else gets a bit much. Be warned, though, some of these are so funny you’ll be LoLing until you can LoL no more.
Emergency Kittens – Twitter
Possibly our favourite on the list, introduced by a good friend who simply tweeted ‘You might find this useful’, Emergency Kittens is nothing more than a simple Twitter feed full of lovely pictures of equally adorable kittens, designed to instantly make you feel better about life and everything therein. It might be a meeting gone wrong, a deadline missed, or the knowledge that you’re working over the weekend again. Whatever the nightmare, there’s nothing some cute ball of fur can’t overcome.
Very British Problems – Twitter and Facebook
From ‘the paralysing horror of encountering a weak flush at someone else’s house’, to ‘saying sorry in a busy place to nobody in particular and being guaranteed at least one random sorry in return’, Very British Problems sums up the British experience with perfectly worded statements that you’ll only really get if you’re British, or have lived in Britain for any length of time. This article on The Poke includes 30 of the best to have been featured thus far, but there will be plenty more to come.
Highgate Mums – Twitter and Facebook
A Twitter feed dedicated to privileged mothers living in North London, this is a great place to go if you want to feel better about yourself within the context of having both feet squarely rooted to the ground. “He wants one of those dogs my builder might have”, “there’s no nice way of putting this, but frankly ANYONE can afford to go skiing these days”, and “if he’s playing iPhone games in class then surely it’s the teacher’s fault for a dull lesson. You might as well blame Apple,” are three of the finest compiled in this BuzzFeed story about this social media joy. Definitely worth tuning in to.
Get In The Sea – Twitter and Facebook
Like any good hip hop album, GITS needs to come with a serious Parental Advisory warning as the language is foul. But, if you can take profanities with a pinch of salt it’s quite funny. The basic premise is that stupid, annoying, ridiculous, uber-trendy, racist, bigoted and any other negative adjective-things are sent to the briny depths because nobody needs or wants them, nor should we tolerate their existence. So far bystanders taking selfies next to a dead dolphin, a sprout serving spoon priced at £27.99, unicorn hair cuts, the guy who wants to eat at every London McDonald’s in one day, and Kanye West have found themselves in watery graves this month.
Year 9 Banter – Twitter
Bless the youth, for they know not what they do. We’re unsure who is running this or how they get their information, but Year 9 Banter is a running stream of quotes from high schoolers found on Twitter, chosen for their hilarity. There are teens super-imposing bottles of vodka into selfies, people asking for help when the issue quite clearly isn’t real (see: boy who needs toilet paper in a bathroom full of toilet paper), and plenty of boasts that simply cannot be true.
ShitMyDadSays – Twitter and Facebook
“Honesty and being an asshole are 2 towns in the same state. As a dad, you got houses in both but you try to only vacation in assholeville.” So says Justin Halpern’s father. In response, Justin Halpern posts these nuggets of learned wisdom direct to Facebook and Twitter, and has so far amassed almost 1.6million likes and nearly 3million followers, numbers that cannot be sniffed at. The same guy is bringing a new book out on 15th May, I Suck At Girls, and between 2010 and 2011 there was even a TV show about his dad, based on said words of advice.
