What a better topic to write on for my first blog than blogs themselves?
What are blogs? And why do we write them? What do they really say about us?
I’m no pro when it comes to technology, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that the internet has changed the world. It’s amazing to think that we can type a word into a little box, and at the click of a button we can access thousands of pages of data that relate to that very word. We can keep in touch with people all over the world, find lost friends, make new ones. We can build relationships with people that we may never even meet, look at their pictures, watch their videos, read their blogs.
I remember there was a boy at my school who wrote a blog. It meant so much to him. It was his catchphrase. The word’s “read my blog!” passed his lips at least 50 times a day. He thought of himself as a comedian, and bothered everything with a pulse to get online and read his material. Needless to say I never did read it. He lived and breathed ‘blog’. He even named his band ‘The Monobloggers’…
So why did he write a blog? He was a lonely guy. Didn’t have many friends. The friends he did have didn’t really know who he was. Maybe we all cry out for that deeper relationship, urging for others to try to understand us, what we think and how we feel. Everyone is lonely in their own way. Even those of us who are surrounded by people every day. In fact those tend to be the loneliest kind of people. We write diaries, as private accounts of the things that mean the most to us in our lives. Is a blog just an online diary? If so, how much of ourselves are we really putting out there, and why do we do it?
It’s interesting to consider how much truth goes into a blog. I have never written a blog before so it will be interesting to see what I leave out of it. As I begin this newfound hobby I promise that I will never write anything dishonest in my blogs, and that everything I write shall be the truth as far as is in my knowledge. But it shall be interesting to see the truths I am afraid to include. If you are reading this and you write a blog, how much of it is true? How closely does it match up to the real you, and how much does it really say about who you are? Can you really come to know someone simply from what they write?
And the blogging begins…
It is also interesting to consider if you perceive yourself to be a 'lonely person' to such an extent that you are now writing this blog, something which can be like an online diary or journal but with the key difference being that it is public - you openly share yourself: is that simply extroversion or something deeper?
ReplyDeleteI think the commitment to honesty and integrity is always the greatest challenge in relationships with others, it is so easy to lie to ourselves, and far easier to lie to others. But a commitment to honesty in a public space like this is a useful tool in self assessment and knowledge.
It is in their ability to allow people to grow and understand their own personalities and limits, lives and judgements, that blogs are a good and useful tool - if they are not approached in such a way they easily become either vanity or a cry for help, two things I personally do not think you will be overly susceptible to.
It will be interesting to see how much of yourself you are prepared to open up to people. Some of the things we find most interesting are the things we least expect people to say/admit to, what they truly think about so and so or how they felt when so and so said/did something to them. Having committed to telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth I will be interested to see how much you are prepared to open up as it is far easier to 'open up' when we blur the edges of the truth slightly. Go for it, be bold, I will read with interest! martin x
ReplyDeleteSounds good. I am also curious to see how truthful and deep your now-found hobby will take. I look forward to reading your next blog. Alex x
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think that my second blog is a true reflection of my thoughts.
Let me know what you think.