Sunday, May 15, 2011

Why Blog...? (...when it's as obsolete as mIRC?)


Sigh. Why risk being called a tech dinosaur? After all, there have been numerous well-based predictions that Facebook and Twitter, what with their ease of usage and accessibility, will slowly put blogging into extinction.

It is not actually a question of whether I like to write. There is, indeed, no question that I like to write, as I find this method of communication more effective for me than talking. I did not learn to talk till I was 4 to 5 years of age, but at that very same time I was constructing sentences and doing a lot of drawings. I grew up always bringing with me my "magic slate" (y'know, those things you write on and eventually erase when you lift the translucent gray film off the black base), eventually replaced by a small notebook and a pen where I can write random thoughts and ideas. It is one of my many personal attempts to put some semblance of order into my cluttered mind.

(Ideas as cluttered as wisps of cloud. Hong Kong skies, 2007)

One of my first reasons why I started blogging is to address a need, so to speak.

When I started my first proper blog called Trash Radio Manila, my initial goal was to write about the music that I like and how the local underground scene is like from my viewpoint. These are the very things that I want to read about online and yet I do not get to read much. Apparently, there are some people who would want to read about the same things that I am interested in.

Then I realized then that blogging allows for a sharing of opinion even from strangers - people whom I would not dream of adding in my Facebook account.

You see, sometimes, there are just some things that I just want to write about and see what people think. When you want to determine a particular opinion, oftentimes you get the more objective ones from strangers. I can explain a certain issue at length, without being interrupted, and then see what they have to say. It is like allowing a good friend to talk about a problem that's bugging her and what he plans to do about it without interrupting him, then when he is done talking you can give your thoughts.

I certainly believe that good communication even with people whom I never know at a personal level is possible, and this does not require Facebook.

I have always regarded Facebook as a phenomenon yet not without its limitations. Facebook has made communication too personal. Honestly, it irks me a bit to read those status that change every hour - and people wonder why stalkers abound. Sometimes - my apologies for having to state this - some friends will breach the boundaries of "personal space", at times invading your Facebook wall with their issues that you have absolutely nothing to do about. Facebook is like being in a noisy bar: people move about you, brushing your arms and shoulders as they move about, breathing behind your necks ... does this sound like I am experiencing some form of online claustrophobia here?

This is also the same reason why I do not hang around much in Twitter, either - I only use it for networking purposes, just like my Facebook account.

Blogging, well ... call me old-fashioned. Blogging is like being in a coffee shop with a friend. Communication is unhurried, you can both stay up all night, and go home to your respective places without one needing to know what the other person wears (or does not wear, perhaps) when sleeping.

*****

This is my submission to the May 2011 edition of The Blog Rounds. Yay, Bonedoc, we're back! :)

11 comments:

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

I agree with you. we are starting to be extinct but i think that it is good for the soul. i thought that i would enjoy facebook more than blogging but i missed it and made my blog public again late last year.

cebumd said...

Well said. Blogging is here to stay but Facebook and Twitter can actually help your blog.

gigi said...

@AL: I actually missed your blogs. Seriously. Please come back. :)

@cebumd: it's true that FB and Twitter can help promote my blog...but that's just about one of the few uses of the two for me. That is, networking and promotion. Thanks for dropping by.

Eloisa said...

I like how you refer to blogging as being in an unhurried conversation in a coffee shop... it makes it more, personal. A very nice touch there.:-)

Bonedoc said...

"..without one needing to know what the other person wears (or not wear)..."

Being personal but not too personal I guess..LOL

Unknown said...

gigi... I am trying to transfer everything to my new site
http://www.northernangle.com (not actually new, I have it since 2009).
Not everything is transferred yet but it is now open for public.

MerryCherry said...

Yes to blogging. I so agree with your analogy of FB and twitter. Well said. BTW, it's nice to get updated again though your blog. ;)

Ligaya said...

Your description of Facebook as "being in a noisy bar: people move about you, brushing your arms and shoulders as they move about, breathing behind your necks..." made me laugh. It's so true! And I can relate to what you said about being better at writing than at talking. :-)

the philippine daily idiot said...

blogging will save the essay form from the the constant ungrammatical quipping.

indeed, w/o the quick volleys of chats and posts and the mundane/boring inner thoughts of others, blogging is a purer form of soliloquy.

doc gi, mirc? ano yun? hahaha. we will be dated by youngish ones. i've been making the rounds here. it's been a while since i mistook u for cebuano-speaking, right?

Unknown said...

to the philippine daily idiot... for us, who started chatting in the 90's, mIRC is what we used. we did not have yahoo or skype back then. We had mIRC and PowWow. :)