The Internet for me, has changed in a rather fundamental way over the last few years, and, in particular, the last few months. It’s become more about people and relationships, and less about hardware and software than ever before. In times of personal bleakness, it has been a friend and way to reach out to people and find out that I really am not alone. There are other people out there who like to share their lives, their stories, situations and experiences with complete and utter strangers.
Personal publishing has really expanded to include anyone who has anything to say. It’s a vehicle for expressing our very basic human rights to free speech. I think this is the main reason why I like blogging so much. There might be a lot of crap pumped into the electronic world on a daily basis, but it’s up to me to define and decide what is crap and what is good and what I want to read. I can decide to click on a link to check for my friends’ updates every day. And those friendships might not be mutual…I read blogs whose writers do not read mine. While this isn’t really that different than reading a book whose author doesn’t read my book, the Internet and blogs are constantly evolving, changing, becoming more or less relevant to my personal circumstances, and I can use it to my advantage whenever I like. It’s less a reference tool and more a creative tool than I ever realized.
I ask myself often why it is I blog, and I guess it’s just because it’s reassuring to know that I am leaving my electronic footprint on the virtual world. And maybe that I made the odd person laugh, even if just for a minute. If I vanished tomorrow there would be some evidence I existed, that I had feelings and experiences and struggled, just like everyone else. It’s an expression of my humanity, in a little, humble way. I think that’s reason enough.
Those very ‘footprints’ were the origin of my Flikr ID