Why are the blogs dying?

this isn’t just about the blogs, Like Freedoms Torch, that have fallen the wayside (and I still do not know why Francis killed that one, IF he killed that one.)  This is about blogs in general.

One, its difficult to make a blog ENTERTAINING on a daily basis, especially in a world that is video and voice driven.   Most people want to listent to a podcast or watch ‘a show’ these days.   Reading, blech!!!

And I catch that every once in awhile here.    For instance in comments, which aren’t all that common on this site, and has much to do with the fact that my readership is only a few hundred people.   My example from comments was a recent one from some new commentor called Sam.    I don’t know that he actually read the post.  I can only speculate on that by his comment; the majority of which weren’t even his words, but quote pulls from others and links (FYI!!!! DO NOT POST LINKS IN COMMENTS.   Bad Mojo!!!)   I approved the comment as I didn’t see it as malicious, but I did gather that he only SCANNED the post, hit that “ignorance is bliss” point and had to make a frufraw about it.   I guess its his personal trigger or something.    I have mine; I’m sure others do to.  

Had he read the post, not just skimmed it, he might have realized I was being snarky by putting it where I did.     No, it wasn’t some deep philosophical peice, it was just me rambling, but even my rambles aren’t straight forward: there is oft-times something laying under the surface, or even just me being sarcastic.(which I was in this instance.)  Skim across the surface and you might miss the point.

But IMO, that is why Blogs are dying.  Not just the entertainment factor, but that society has ‘evolved’ for speed of absorption with information.  I see it with people using the LLM’s to give synopsis of long form writing.    I would say more people use the LLM’s for that than anything else.   We even have an acronym for it: TL; DR ‘Too long, didn’t read”

We are losing our cognitive ability because we want the expurgated versions.  We want to ‘listen in’ instead of engage our eyes and brains.   Or we want the visual entertainment of a show, with the attendant Short attention span programming that goes along with it.   

Re-train yourself if you find yourself hitting these points.   Figure out how you can make the time to SIT AND READ a daggum book.    Find a small one at first if you are hardcore into podcasts or such.   Small book, make the time, an hour a night, READ, don’t take notes, just READ,,, make yourself sit there and read for the sake of reading.    It will get easier.   And you will find that your focus increases across the rest of your day.   You won’t be so easily distracted by the latest and greatest whatever, that has everyone else talking around the watercooler.   And you will find your brain thanking you for the break from all the hype and turmoil its subjected to in this ‘modern age’.   We aren’t wired like the AI: 100khz 8 core processors running in banks of 100, or whatever the hardware configuration is.     We have only 5-8# of gooey grey matter floating in salty bathwater to make sense of this mess we call life.

Why have I not thrown in the towel on this blog?  My readership tanked years back; it hovers around 100 a day, usually less.   So it’s not like I have an actual voice in the world.  I’m quite literally shouting into the void.   Why bother?    Because It allows me to FOCUS in a way that makes sense to this INTJ brain, get shit off my chest and mind, and I do still rather enjoy it.    Most days,,,   Even if I have nothing to say about things in the great wide world, some of y’uns think I have something to say in general, and pat me on the back for it.   Its not just for me, though that does make up a large portion, its for you as well.   Maybe you get something from my drivels.  Maybe you don’t agree with my views, but you are exposed to a different perspective and have a good think about things.   Maybe you get swayed towards my way, maybe you firm up in your own resolve.   Doesn’t matter to me, its your world: I can only hope you took the time to actually READ IT.   

There will come a day when I open this program, look at it and say ‘I’m done’, but that day is not today.    I won’t just kill it though.   There are 17 years of this on the nets and somewhere in there are nuggets of gold in writing.    I will archive it (already have, updated monthly) and later, pick and glean the gold for publication elsewhere, for a pittiance in sales of course, but thats not the point.   THIS, is my mark on the world that I leave behind; even if its self stylized senseless drivel at times.   

Live

LEARN

Love

LAUGH

LOAD

PS:  99.7% of my writing on this site is ‘straight from the hip’.   Editing is a quick re-read for typos (and many slip through) or serious misspellings that aren’t intentional (note, that I before E thing still messes with me bad.)   Being able to write long form from the hip, without a map and still make sense of things, is a talent.   One honed by 17 years of DOING.   i’m not sure I am ready to put that away anytime soon.