by Jay Stevens
David at Better Living Thru Blogging! has recently been talking about why people blog in an effort to dull the criticism that bloggers are a pack of rabid loonies spending way too much time and energy blogging, instead of, say, reclining on the Barca-lounger and watching reruns of the “Price is Right” like any normal, red-blooded American.
Describing blogging as a “hobby” was a good start, but didn’t quite describe the impulse, really. Blogging isn’t like building model airplanes or collecting stamps. There’s a lot not to like about blogging – the death threats, the disdain from the journalists and politicos we write about, the nasty nasty nasty comments from trolls – and it often feels like a burden.
But then David found a link to a tech blogger who explained what he gets out of blogging, which I think more accurately describes the reason why many of us do the blog-thing.
1. You become much more observant. Bloggers are observant people. They have to be. They need something to put into their blog tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. The Blogger Mindset means that you’re always looking around for something interesting to spur on a post. It might be a funny anecdote, an experience you’re having in life, or a song you’re listening to that triggers an idea. You’re always asking, “How can I turn that into a blog post?”
2. You become more focused. Bloggers need to focus. Whether it’s on one idea for a blog post or on the news in their industry / subject of choice, the Blogger Mindset means more focus. It is easy to get distracted when you start tracking hundreds of blogs and feeds, but successful bloggers know the importance of focus and they’re mastering it daily.
Bingo. It’s an intellectual exercise. It stimulates the mind and makes you more observant and focused. It’s easy to become so focused on our immediate environment, it’s easy to overlook what’s going on around us. Blogging gives us a tool with which to look at the world.
The other items from Yoskovitz’ list are more business-oriented, but can easily applied to political blogging, too. The practice of blogging improves writing skills, which draw readers. Blogging has opened a social network for me; not only have I met and hung with other bloggers, but I was pretty involved in this summer’s Senate campaign, albeit as an outsider. Still, it’s an experience everyone should have if they care about citizenship and country, if only to see what the process of an election is like.
Whatever. The shorter message is this: blogging is good for the soul. That’s why we do it.
(And yes, David, I still remember I owe you five dollars.)
March 10, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Another thing that I think is great about blogging, especially on blogs where debate is possible, is that it helps us all to learn critical-thinking skills.
When you throw a truly silly notion out, no matter how great of an idea you’re convinced that it is, if someone else with more developed critical-thinking skills comes across it, you’re sure to get your head handed to you in a charger.
The major media, for so long, has had an uncheckable influence over the public by being able to report on whatever they wanted, in whatever way they wanted, without immediate feedback from the public, so they’ve been able to get away with employing a lot of unfair and unbalanced reporting tactics, because the process of rebuttal was too difficult to use and often ignored even when it was used.
Near-instant feedback through RSS feeds and blogs attached to every article are a beautiful thing!
March 10, 2007 at 9:22 pm
I blog because I like thinking and talking and arguing. Blogging has taken the conversations I have with myself or my husband or my friends, and made it so that other people interested in the same things can participate. Maybe it’s weird, but Andy (my husband) and I actually spend a lot of time talking about things people say on blogs or in the newspaper or magazines. It gives me a chance to develop my writing skills and hear new views on what I have to say.
I also like the archival aspect of it - it’s interesting seeing how my thinking has changed even over the year-ish that I’ve been blogging. And one of the big reasons I started a blog was so that there was proof of the way a thoughtfully liberal and atheist Idahoan thinks. The red and blue US map takes a lot of the complexity out of the character of America, and especially the characters of individual Americans.
March 11, 2007 at 10:57 am
If blogging is an “intellectual exercise,” why are you still a fathead?
March 11, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Much obliged, Jay - I appreciate your take on this. And I remember the $5, but oddly, I can’t recall exactly what the bet was! Did it involve bombing Iran…?
March 11, 2007 at 2:21 pm
The human brain is 60% fat.
March 12, 2007 at 7:58 am
I like blogging because it brings me into contact with expressions I’ve never heard before. What does it mean “to get your head handed to you in a charger”? I’m serious. I want to know.
March 12, 2007 at 8:41 am
Ed, LOL, it’s funny how we assume that everyone has heard of a saying which we’ve grown up with. I believe that the saying has its roots in the account of John the Baptist in the Bible. See Matthew, chapter 14.
March 12, 2007 at 9:39 am
Speaking of owing bloggers bet money, I still owe Craig. Lindeen didn’t beat the spread.
I can really identify with the idea of looking at everything with the ‘how do I turn this into a blog post’ mentality. Another aspect is that it forces you into becoming versed in areas that you would not have otherwise. No one wants to be taken to the mat by a troll.
March 12, 2007 at 9:46 am
Ed, isn’t a charger a big plate or a platter? So, wouldn’t that be the same as ‘Having your head handed to you on a platter’? That is an expression I am more familiar with.
March 12, 2007 at 10:10 am
I wonder if the platter version had its roots in John the Baptist. Charger, platter…toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe. :^)
Fun tangent.
March 12, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Yep, I looked it up. It’s all over the place in the King James version—multiple times in the O.T. and then in reference to John the Baptist in Matthew and Mark. All I can say in my own defense is that I was brought up Catholic and we were never encouraged to read the Bible much. We just listened (or fell asleep) as the priest read from the Bible, and it was almost always a parable. You learn something every day … sometimes two things.
March 12, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Ed– Everything you have ever written evinces a total ignorance of the Bible. What else is new?
March 13, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Ed– Everything you have ever written evinces a total ignorance of the Bible. What else is new?
Brrrr. More “purity” tests. IMHO, if you dinged everybody for their ignorance of the Bible, you’d have to start with Christian conservatives like Rick Jore, et al., who seem to think religious observance is a way to set yourself above your fellow human beings.
Ed, on the other hand, has never claimed to be a Biblical “expert.”
March 13, 2007 at 3:49 pm
So it all boils down to Rick Jore? Hahaha.
March 13, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I know for a fact you have the assets available to pay off that $5 bet.
March 13, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Or did you blow it?
March 13, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Yeah, I lost the bet because I thought Conrad Burns would be indicted by Christmas of last year.
I was wrong.
As for my $5 resource — you never paid up! So…I’ll tell you what, let’s transfer the debt. Now you owe David $5!
March 14, 2007 at 5:09 pm
I sent you $5 in the mail! Damn! I knew I should have sent it certified return receipt.
March 14, 2007 at 6:22 pm
(Hm, maybe I can milk another $25-30 out of this guy before he catches on.)
Honestly, you probably did. While I’m sure I must have enjoyed it very much, I can’t even remember getting your Lincoln in the mail…
March 15, 2007 at 4:55 pm
It was wrinkled and green, SN DF 35228828 signed by John W. Snow.