Unsuccessfully Unblogging
A little while ago I wrote a post called “Unblogging”a call to arms against the seemingly endless army of SEO experts, “professional” bloggers, and “social mavens” -whatever the hell they might be.
The main idea was to stop trying so hard;I want to get back to people writing about their daily life, and just emptying their head. Honesty, bravery, brevity, and candid thoughts.
Somewhere along the way, I fell off the horse. It's easy to become seduced with the latest statistics graphs from Google or WordPressto become obsessed with numbers of followers, comments, and likes at Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. For the really idiotic there is also the faux influence numbers invented by Klout.
I can't help recalling a scene from the movie “Truth or Dare” (known as “In Bed with Madonna” in Europe)where Warren Beatty asks why Madonna would want to live away from the cameras, given her obsession with attention and publicity.
As soon as we begin to question why we share our lives online, we open Pandora's box. We qualify our actions in all sorts of ways, and apply all manner of reasoning to our presence out here on the edge of the internet.
For me, blogging is an escape. If future generations look back on my words with even a flickering interest in the life I lead, and the thoughts I had about things, that's all goodbut it's not why I'm here. Some people build imaginary underground cities in Minecraft, and others spend countless hours hunting monsters in World of Warcraft. I sit in the dark and pour thoughts from my fingers into the keyboard.