Blogging is kinda dead... Right? (And other thoughts...)

Yeah, yeah.  I know.  Blogging has outlived its heyday and has bitten the dust somewhat, it seems.  Yes, some sites exist that allow for journaling and such, like OpenDiary, LiveJournal, Tumblr, Wordpress, etc.  But moreso than anything, the once-booming mommy blogging 'industry' and other such prominent blog formats (of which I was once a part, in some small way) have been traded for Instagram accounts.  Followers, followers!  Like, share, subscribe!  Insta-influencers are all the rage, rising in notoriety and competing against one another, struggling viciously for prominence and recognition.  (No, not everyone is vicious, and many Instagram users trying to utilize the format as a business startup of some sort are often entirely supportive of other similar individuals/accounts.)  And let's not even get started on YouTube, TikTok, and all the rest...

As I once stated here years ago, I am not a competitive person...  Nor do I feel that I can be all that influential.  I have no desire to struggle against others for attention, and I also feel that it is cringe-y and inducing of eternal eyerolls...  Besides, these days, my sphere is smaller than ever.  I've withdrawn from Facebook and regressed socially (even before COVID-19), and I generally just keep to myself.  But I have thoughts...  And lots of them.  There is a great deal that transpires within my head, and I need a place for recording and chronicling in a way that just won't always be easy to convey in my own bedside journals.  Don't get me wrong - the written word is sacred to me, imbued with meaning and power, and I value the ability to write my thoughts.  Literacy is honestly such an incredible thing that I feel may be falling to the wayside with the prevalence of memes, limited character space on sites like Twitter, and just general texting snafus that are either auto-corrected or are never really addressed.  People aren't trying to correct their errors, nor are they attempting to convey complex thoughts that reflect higher-order thinking and advanced cognitive abilities.

Honestly, I worry that we as a society are dumbing ourselves down.  (Well, I was already worried about this a very long time ago, but it seems to be ever-more apparent...)  It was once such an admirable quality in a suitor to be extremely well-read and to have diverse talents within various realms of the arts.  Now, people are skilled at taking selfies and posing in their new outfits, or going insane and shouting incessantly on their videogame streams...  We're all frantically clamoring for some way to capitalize on that online cash flow - and who could blame any single one of us?  We would all love the opportunity to work from home doing exactly what we love without having a care in the world.  But some of us don't have the time for such hustling.  Even fewer of us even know where to begin, it seems.  I am just not so sure that going berserk on camera is the most admirable way of doing so (even though it seems to be highly-addictive clickbait for those who like that sort of thing).  

I'm worried about our culture, and the loss thereof.  I'm worried about our common sensibilities.  I am worried about our loss of identity in the collective fray and chaos.  How can one find their voice in the midst of a hurricane, or a vacuum devoid of air?  Similarly, we need to abstain from surrounding ourselves with an echo chamber - a choir repeating our thoughts back to us.  While I celebrate those who are likeminded and of similar disposition, we need more diversity and healthy discourse.  We need to understand the current cultural syntax so we can make sense of it and perhaps rectify it.  We need to abstain from hatefulness and the rigidity that does not allow us empathy and considerate perspectives, even if entirely adverse.  It's possible, right?  Maybe?  I certainly hope so.

Let's explore geographical/anthropological themes and the movement of peoples and ideas.  Let's follow these cultural and societal shifts in real-time and see where they go.  Citizen-sourced, real-time, collaborative data collection.  Always a fan!  

Anyway, I'm going to have a glass of wine.

Here's to contemplative Fridays!