Interesting stuff...

I don't think direct experience is enough...we like to record our experiences because memories are fallible and fade, and also it is nice to make a record of events either for ourselves to refer back to, or for other people to vicariously enjoy them.

As for blogging, well, everything is filtered through our own perceptions of events and the way we look at the world, so it's never a true record. But I find writing (sometimes) helps me make sense of things, and articulating things gives them a more solid shape than the mess of stuff sloshing about in my head.

As to "why blog?", well, why not? First and foremost, I blog for myself. And there is a tiny cabal of bloggers who I read on a regular basis (yours included), because I am genuinely interested in two things: what you have to say and, just as if not more importantly, how you say it.

Embrace The Blog! I don't believe blogging is about attention seeking (well, for some people it is, but I don't think that is the case with you). If it was just that, we'd create hugely popular blogs full of hot-button topics like porn, politics, controversy, etc.

Damn, I'm rambling, and I've hijacked this comments thread. Shutting up now...

your blog isn't about attention, and neither is mine. ok, one of mine kinda is, but in the i-want-to-be-a-photographer-in-the-far-off-someday sense. anyway, it's just our way of communicating with the world, and a few people in particular. although that 360 days one... just kidding.

Direct experience is not enough for me, because I never remember it. Not properly, anyway.

For "blog" read "diary" or "column", even: nothing new there except the volume of readers and the facility of communicating with the writer. It's one person talking, hopefully being listened to and maybe even engaged in conversation.

"We read to know that we are not alone" - maybe that's why we write too. Some of us don't blog, and only leave comments. I am the remora on the shark of your blogs.

[from the Word Verification Dictionary of B:
auvqun (n, Sanskrit): fear that the life you live is not your own.]

Get better soon, Jen.

Yeah, but it's one of my ambitions for 2006 to turn you into a blogger, B.

Be The Shark!

AKA: Good point. I think I will embrace my weblog. ::hugs weblog:: :^) I do like to think (hope!) there are some out there who enjoy peeking in on my little life from time to time.

Brianne: Yes, my weblog is my surrogate phone, I suppose. I guess I just use it when I'm too scared to call people (always).

Mysterious B: You're welcome to hang around all you'd like. Though, I'd probably be a loyal reader if you were to have your own page.

Thanks for the mention, Jennifer. If any of your readers want to check out the full article, I posted it on my blog. The point I end up making is to be suspicious of overmediation, not necessarily to cut out blogging and TV watching, etc. Just to ask the questions you're asking--about what it means to blog or what you get out of it--seems valuable.

Thanks for the link, Paul! I didn't realize you'd have it posted anywhere. All that typing for naught. ha! :^)

And the article is great. Thank you for sharing.

Very interesting. However, I think you have it right.. especially in a world where we are becoming more and more desensitized, dehumanized and cut off from any meaningful interaction, filled up by media and magazines and want instead of hope... It's not so much "I blog therefore I am".. it's an outstretched arm, waving hello, dropping a message into the bottle, into a huge ocean, hoping someone will find it and understand.. it's communication and the tantilizing prospect of having someone 'get' you.

I blog, therefore, I am known, understood and not alone.