OK, so it looks like I am the first person who is posting. And, oddly enough, I am probably one of the more resistant people to blogging. I have one, yet I only use it for my athletics--and I don't even know why I use Blogger for that. Who cares how many miles I sweated out on the bike, or what the status of my new roller-skis is?
Anyway, I am not a fan of the blog. Oh, sure: it can be a great way to share information, get a book deal, connect with others, blah blah blah. But the reality is, I want my plain old pen and paper. That's right. Gimme those dead trees and compressed lead or soy-based ink.
Writing on a blog seems so...artificial. I don't feel like I am really connected to the words. That, and I really don't feel like I have a hella lot to say. Yeah, I am as opinionated as the next person. Probably more so. But I don't consider myself the center of the universe, and, really: I don't care if other people like me, my thoughts, or anything I have to say.
Wanna know something really weird? I am writing this at 8 PM...outside...at a city park where I am camping for the weekend. I just wanted to get the homework done, and this is the perfect light to be typing on a computer. But what does it say about our culture that this campground now has wireless? I mean, it was bad enough that camping has become something you can do with electricity. But the internet? I have entered the Twilight Zone.
The odd thing is, I have searched the internet, and there seems to be no scientific articles on the potential negative effects of blogging. I mean, don't tell me the effects are all positive. That is like a pot-head ignoring the negative consequences to smoking reefer every day. It is out there. I await the day the social scientists latch on to that one.
So, with no links to be had to prove my point, I sign off for the burny goodness of the campfire and old fashioned s'mores, sans microwave, as the light wanes and I strain to find the right keys with my man-hand-sized fingers. Marshmallow, anyone?
First off, I was wondering who "Biker Chick" was and I guessed it was you, Andrea, before I even clicked on the name to see if I was right! I know I only met you on Thursday for the first time but this totally sounded like you.
ReplyDeleteSecond, jealous of your campfire smores!
Last, I feel like people need the validation of finding like-minded individuals without having to put themselves out there "in person." Having a blog gives you a place to express yourself without actually facing someone in real time.
Side note: I totally forgot I had a blog until I saw it next to our class's. Oops. Shows how much I care about it outside of developing my writing and/or sharing my thoughts about the world with anonymous strangers.
Yes, I do feel that you have to have somewhat of an ego to want to write a blog, but I do feel it is a great way to share your thoughts and to share new info. One day Id like to get organized enough to write one- but "one day" may never come.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I like best about blogs is that only the people that want to hear you, will hear you and you know that you are not bombarding them with information that they do not want to hear-instead, they have sought you out to hear what you have say.
I agree with Joyce on this one. The choice to write a blog has more to do (in my opinion) with self-discovery than with self-aggrandizement. The nice thing about blogging is that it motivates me to clean up my act as a writer. I don't know whether someone or anyone will actually read what I have written, but there is energy in the possibility of readership. That said, I also love to write in my paper journal - and there is something very satisfying in pen or pencil to paper, doodling, drawing and being spontaneous in a way not possible in blogging.
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