The Ironies of Blogging

One of the paradoxes I have learned is that the more I surf blogs the less I want to blog myself. There are a couple reasons for this:
1) Surfing blogs takes up time so that when I am done surfing I often feel I don’t have enough time to write something myself.
2) Reading blogs rarely sparks creative thoughts in my own head. I seem to use different skills and parts of my brain when I read blogs then when I blog myself. When I read blogs I don’t feel pressure to blog.
3) Reading blogs often leads me to believe I don’t have anything much to say. I mean who needs another half-assed opinion the topic de jure? I don’t want to be shouting into cyber-space reading the echoes as applause.

What I have decided is that what makes me want to blog is reading a wide variety of content. Most blogs, mine included, are reactionary. They take information and react to it. If I read a lot of reaction eventually I have less and less content to react to myself. Occasionally, bloggers reactions and statements cause me to react but more often they don’t. So I end up with a lot of random surfing and little satisfaction. So what I think I will do is get back to reading content, online and off, and offering my thoughts and ideas as they come. I think this will give me more satisfaction as it will involve thinking and wrestling with meatier issues. Instead of looking for just the right angle in any hot topic I plan to blog about what I find interesting and important.

This doesn’t mean I won’t read blogs. I still have people I enjoy checking in on. But it does mean that I have recognized my limits. I will never be part of the hot and fast moving part of the Blogosphere. I am simply not willing to give up reading books and magazines outside of the internet. Instead, I will try to return to my thinker roots rather than being envious of the cool and popular linkers.

Here ends another one of my famous naval gazing posts. Thanks for listening.