I started blogging in 2008. The online world looked a little—okay, a lot—different back then. Social media was in its infancy and I was barely dipping my toe in. Blogs were where it was at.
We connected, linked to one another’s cyber homes in our blogrolls, and got to know one another virtually. Sometimes we responded to comments via email and our connection strengthened. We offered glimpses into our daily life and peeked into the worlds others inhabited. It seemed a kinder, gentler, cyberspace. Everybody wasn’t selling or promoting something. We were just living our lives and writing about it.
Gradually we started migrating to social media platforms and some gave up blogging altogether. It became easier to post quick status updates than write blog posts, and payoff in real time likes and comments enticed us to linger there.
For years we heard that blogging was dead or dying. And yet….
Here we are all those years later still blogging and still reading blogs. The demise of blogging is, to put it in modern terms, fake news.
I’ve been intentionally backing off social media for a few months. I’m still there, but it’s different now. I watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix couple of weeks ago, and again with our daughter last weekend. Have you seen it? If it doesn’t cause one to rethink their social media usage I don’t know what will.
Maybe it’s time for a blogging revival. It’s different here. Like I said, kinder. Gentler. Interesting, and with many of the benefits of social media but without the threat of manipulation that, frankly, is turning us into monsters toward one another.
It presents a quandary for writers and other creatives who use social media to reach readers and those who are interested in their work. I don’t see it going away. We’ve opened that Pandora’s Box and have learned to rely on it. It’s not all bad.
I don’t have many answers. As usual, I come up with more questions the longer I think about it.
But I’ll probably be here more than there going forward. I’ll visit your blogs more often and look forward to visiting some spaces I haven’t been to for a while. If you’ve been less active on your own blog, maybe you’ll think about returning. If you don’t blog, consider starting one and see what happens.
So many things are shifting and morphing and this is just one more of those things. That’s how I see it, anyway.
The blogging world for me was a lifeline in the beginning and remains so through this epidemic. I love the community. I also find it is a good place to experiment with writing, stretch my photography skills, and share art efforts. As you say, a gentle place.
I have missed some of the really good things about the blogging community and look forward to getting reengaged. We are fortunate to live in a time where we have the ability to connect with people from all over the world so easily. Social media has, in some ways, changed the landscape but we can’t lose sight of the positives.
Someone else recommended The Social Dilemna to me a week ago but I haven’t watched yet. I’d forgot about it until I read your post. I’ll have to make a note of it this time! Thanks Linda! Hope you’re both well!
I highly recommend the documentary, Carmen.
Still not able to simply like your posts, but better this way. I have only posted twice this summer. I have so much to say but rarely say what is really on my mind about things that deeply concern me…cancer, politics, forgiveness, faith…I keep it tucked away and play it safe with pretty pictures. Thanks for the encouragement to continue blogging.
I hold many things close these days too, Martha. Seems safer that way.
I agree with everything you’ve said, Linda. I’ve backed off from social media in the past couple of months and I’m not missing it. Blogging is like having a nice conversation with friends, rather than the quick, one line remarks that often leave room for interpretation, and also depend on the reader to fill in the details. Thank you for the comment about the geraniums! I had decided to try wintering them in my garage, so you’ve confirmed my decision;)
“A nice conversation with friends.” That’s it exactly! Good luck with the overwintering.
I’ve enjoyed your reflective post. Instagram is something I never really got into; it’s too brief for me, and so I’ve continued to blog (albeit with pauses) and read blogs too. I like the written word, the rhythm of prose, the sequence of paragraphs. I like being taken on a journey, pausing to admire or engage with interesting or pretty photos from time to time, having my mind stimulated, my eyes opened, my thinking ruffled, always my world enlarged and enriched, and then arriving gently at a conclusion. Perhaps in these days when our patterns of rushing and achieving may be less, blogging will have a revival …
I got into Instagram when I was taking photography classes but it’s beginning to feel burdensome keeping up with it. I enjoy connecting on Facebook but am limiting my time there to preserve my mental health. I’m thankful for the world of blogging and the thoughtful engagement it invites.