New(ish) to the ‘sphere…
January 13, 2009Well, this is the second blog I’ve officially started, although I posted just twice to the other one, and I think I may have been the only person to view those pages… I’ve posted a total of 2 status updates on Facebook in the ~5 years that I’ve been a member, and I contribute fairly regularly to a family-centric photoblog, but not to the online world in general.
For years I’ve tried to figure out why I’m so ambivalent to the whole idea. I’m a near-constant consumer of the virtually written word — news websites and Amazon and Wikipedia and cooking-related sites and tons of discussion boards, etc. I read read read… I love reading what other people have to say, whether it’s a profound comment on the brevity of life, or “This product sucks cuz I wanted a pink one but they sent me a red one.” It doesn’t really matter. I think it’s all terribly interesting in examining the proverbial fabric of society. I’m a consummate lurker in a completely non-creepy way…
This, I think, will be an interesting experiment. I’m so terribly cautious when I write (and not usually because of a conscious effort to be). Every word needs to fit, even when I know for sure that no one will ever read the product of the toil. I consider, write, read, re-write, re-read, and re-write everything — even in emails with friends. Now that I’ve written the last few sentences, I feel uncomfortably self-conscious about it. I suppose that’s as good a response as any to the “why am I ambivalent toward blogging” question…
I consider myself a digital native, having played Oregon Trail very early in elementary school, learning to program stuff in BASIC on the Apple IIe when I was around 10, and using the internet regularly starting just 4 or so years later. But even with all of that, I’m unsure of my contributory possibilities in 2.0 Land. Like in classes or meetings, I speak when I feel like I have something worthwhile to say, and otherwise I prefer just to observe. I feel like I learn a ton online every day (which makes me think of one of my favorite professors, who reminded us often to “Wonder something, every single day.”), but as a relatively unproductive participant thus far, I’m not quite sure where I fit.
