We’ve all been there… you spend all day working a stressful job with tons of screen time, then come home only to find that everyone in your family is tuned out watching tv or ‘doom scrolling’ on their phones.
You arrange to meet up with a group of friends but all anyone wants to do is go to the same pub and talk about their recent house renovation. You feel like you’re not connecting with anyone and nothing that you do with your spare time seems to make you feel better. Panic builds inside you and pretty soon you’re wide awake late at night screaming THERE MUST BE MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS!!!
OK - perhaps a bit extreme - but you're not alone if you feel like this sometimes. Despite all the many ‘joys’ of the internet, humans seem to be getting more disconnected. We’re insanely busy, we text each other instead of calling, when we do see each other it can be brief and filled with distractions. Connecting with family is also getting harder, with devices and social media platforms that are specifically designed to kidnap our attention.
At the same time as all this, many of us also have no creative outlet. The generation before us knew how to make and mend. Until the 1980s many people cold fix their own car, make their own clothes and or make toys for their children. Our generation tends to ‘consume’ instead of create. We don’t make or fix anything ourselves, instead we specialise in one thing and pay others to do everything else for us.
The problem with all this is that being isolated, passive consumers is pretty much the opposite of what the human brain needs to be happy. Neuroscience tells us that we are at our best when we to feel connected to each other and also capable of doing things ourselves, not beholden to others to do things for us.
A great way to get a major hit of both these human needs is to set aside some time and learn to make something together. Practicing a craft like wood carving, basket weaving or even crochet can releases oxytocin, the brain’s bonding and trust hormone, and if you do it with your loved ones we guarantee it will be some of the best time you have spent together in ages. You will also talk more deeply as you work, really connect and really catch up. Plus you'll bond over helping each other with the project.
As the old saying goes, people talk better when they are working on something shoulder to shoulder than they do face to face.
Our customer Lisajane recently bought one of our basket weaving kits to do at home with her mother Angela:
‘I bought my mum your shopping basket course and have spent the last 2 days with her while she completed her basket. We had a really special time together and mum loved it. We chatted and laughed and swore once or twice I’ll admit! The videos were fabulous and set everything out brilliantly. The instruction was so soothing and unhurried, making it all so easy to follow. I thought you might like to see the result ! Thank you for a really special experience. We think we’ll do one each next time 😊”
Nigel bought four kits for his wife Sue and her friends to do together. She said, ‘We thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. It was very social and we love our new baskets! Now we all want to make another one!”
Why don’t people do more of this stuff?
A major reason that people don’t end up doing a craft course together is it can be hard to organise. You have to find a course that’s near you on a date that everyone else in your group can do. A lot of people can’t travel or need to arrange childcare, which makes it much more expensive. The great thing about adult craft kits is that everything is much easier to organise. You get lifetime access to an online course taught by a leading expert, and everything you need just turns up at your door. Our courses are produced by our BAFTA-winning team of filmmakers and designed to be easy enough for beginners, but challenging enough that you feel like you’ve learned a real skill.
If you’d like to have a go at one of our craft kits, you can order through our website, or email us a hello@myown2hands.co and we can advise you on which is the best course for your group.