Sticking with it.

I read a report that said—in so many words—that blogs are dead. No one uses them anymore. They are one step above virtual worlds. Reading blogs is a few notches above. But the obvious bottom line is that technology continues to roll onward, and like everything else, changes. They’ll stay around I’m sure. But they’re on the decline.

Facebook and twitter are killing them. It’s quite simple. I have a hundred or so Facebook friends. That’s where I see what they’re up to, and increasingly it aggregates everything else like my news, Mashable links, and so much more. It’s the RSS feed for the next generation of Internet. And the easier they make it, the more strongly held it becomes.

That leaves fewer people like me (and those way more dedicated than I am) taking time to sit and write. And I think it’s too bad, even as I find less time (and sometimes less motivation) to do this than before. Twitter and Facebook are largely fun, inane little snippets of information, meant to convey an in-the-moment snapshot. They’re like sorbet…a brief taste that a moment later is gone from your palette, leaving nothing lasting or memorable.  I can go backward through status updates and read great chunks of them that illicit no memory, no recognition or just a mild chuckle of amusement. Some cause a burst of quick conversation, then onto the next thing.

I’ve been writing here since July, 2003. It was a simple start, not much more than a status update itself: Note to self: Little Swimmers are not, repeat, NOT suitable for non-pool activity, don't hold much, and should NEVER be worn by child while riding on dad's shoulders. In Sam's Club.

My first month or so was like this. But slowly I found what I wanted from my writing…a way to remember. I wandered back through it today and realized that it’s so much more powerful than any other thing I do. Pictures, for all their joy, convey the outside beamed in. But writing is the inside looking out. The feel, the smell, the essence of the moment, full of anger or elation. It sparks memories in a way nothing else does for me, relighting that fire as if it were yesterday.

And the key idea there is summed up in two words: for me. I write knowing others will read it. And I write in ways that I hope others will enjoy. Otherwise, why put this out there at all? But the core of the writing is a diary. A simple way to capture the journey.

And someday, when they are old enough, my boys will read this, and know what it meant to me to be their dad.

The blog is dead. Long Live the Blog.

 

Comments

[mc]

Happy Holidays to you and your family! I hope your blog lives a long long life. I don't remember how I found it but it's lovely to read.