Why Do You Blog?

While I have my fundamental hypothesis about why people blog, I am now interested in some empirical evidence. To that end, I invite visitors to comment and let me know why they blog.

Retired

At this point, it must go without saying, that I am no longer posting on this blog.

Sojourning

I did a bit of slogging through the next blog button this evening after a long break. I find myself with little patience for many of the blogs I run across. I have become heartless, I guess.

I ran into one blog that was all about hip Asian singles looking for love and sex in Los Angeles. I could not relate. It made me really glad I am not single. I also visited a blog written by an 85 year old man. I thought that was pretty cool -- the oldest blogger I have come across yet. Most of the people I know who are over 75 are not terribly computer literate. I was impressed. Then there was a blog about acne. This blogger had about 10 blogs listed on his profile. In addition to the acne blog, he publishes a blog about business and another blog about Jesus. There were the usual foreign language blogs. I also came across a blog clearly put together by some teenage girl with the customized page with trendy anime graphics and music playing. These types of blogs are indecipherable to me with the short-cut-slang-lang, chat boxes and cute paraphernalia that characterizes the bling, bling teeny bopper blog.

Will You Be My Valentine?

I am back only because Just D told me I was missed. Now that was a valentine that made me feel loved!

I have been involved in low-tech pursuits such as writing in a notebook and singing songs on guitar. I was working a trial. Then my child caught the flu. Then I caught the flu from my child. And by the time all of that was over, I seem to have lost the ambition to become a blog star.

In the continued negotiation of my mid-life crisis, I am thinking about the things I want to achieve in my life before it is over. Visiting all the blogs on Blogger is not on the list. Creating is first on the list. My experience of creativity is deeply related to my sense of spirituality. Unfortunately, between the demands of my life and a complacent contentment, my spirituality has dissipated. I am trying to rebuild my spiritual connections so I can reinvigorate my creative voice. I find that rebuilding requires me to spend time observing and thinking and freely writing, not blithely surfing blogs or posting with a premise. Sitting in front of a computer trying to be clever does not promote that connection. That is another reason why I have not posted recently.

Until I decide exactly what I am going to do with my blogs, they each remain vulnerable to extinction.

I Blog Therefore I Am

Latest survey update: It turns out many people blog merely to validate their existence.

I Am Just A Narcissist

I've concluded that I am just narcissistic. I want to be loved. I want people to appreciate, value and love me for what I do and who I am. All of us have a need to be loved and appreciated -- I don't know anyone who prefers to be unloved and unappreciated. But I am afraid that my need to be loved and appreciated may be pathological. I get anxious in certain situations if I do not feel loved and appreciated. Although, my need for love and appreciation is certainly not as acute as some people I know -- my skin is not that thin. However, my need to feel love and appreciated is often unsatisfied. Oh, to be loved!

Technical Difficulties Are Sapping My Blogging Joy

Blogger has been really unresponsive! Almost everytime I try to log on, Blogger gets stuck during the log in process. This post represents the first successful log on attempt since my last post! I had to get in the back way too -- I was unable to directly log on. The problems seem to have started once the new blogger came out of beta. I am really frustrated. Between that and my diminished motivation to keep blogging I have not posted much at all on any of my blogs. I am thinking of calling it quits anyway.

The Importance of Knowing Love

Today I attended the memorial service for a friend of mine. He committed suicide. The family and friends who survived his suicide commented on how hurt and angry they were that he killed himself. They love him dearly. Unfortunately, he had not internalized their love so that he had no sustenance during his time of despair.

To allow onself to be loved can be as much of a gift as giving love.

Survey Update

It's very interesting to review the comments left by other bloggers about why they blog. While a number of comments do support my fundamental hypothesis that people blog for love, many bloggers attest to blogging for more mundane reasons such as fighting off boredom. I certainly appreciate the blogger who blogs in order to remember her life. I find that if I do not write it down, I certainly forget, especially now that I am deeply ensconced in middle age. This on-going experiment is certainly worth continuing. To that end, I invite all readers to continue responding to the question, "Why do you blog."

Happy New Year

I'm back after a brief, unintended hiatus. Between my computer problems, blogger problems, illness and the holidays I have not blogged since before Christmas. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. The new year is upon us and time to move forward through the blogosphere in search of more and more love!

Technical Difficulties

I am having problems with my internet connection. Responsiveness is slow. My screens keep freezing. The computer tech is coming over tomorrow. Meanwhile, it has prevented me from posting or responding to comments.

Bestest Blog

"Bestest Blog" came up today during my random sojourn through the "next blog" button. This is the third or fourth time it has come up during my sojourn. I think I'm being sent a message to which I will respond: I shall link to the "Bestest Blog Of All Time."

I still have not hit any other blog more than once.

ppwienr

As those of you who comment on this blog know, I employ word verification. It has been a useful tool for preventing spammers from bogging me down with irrelevant offers. Being middle aged, I sometimes have difficulty discerning the letters in the word verification. Today, however, as I was leaving a responsive comment to a commenter on this blog, the word verification was very clear: ppwienr.

Love Makes The World Go Around

I have been overwhelmingly busy with work lately -- so much so, that every night, after being at work all day, I have homework. For the past week or so, when I sit at the computer it is not to blog but to work. As a result, I have neglected my post.

I've noticed that when my energy is diverted away and I am not wandering the blogosphere as diligently, my blog receives fewer visitors. It's like the more I give, the more I get.

Blogger Frustrations

I have been having a lot of problems commenting lately. Often comments that I painstakingly compose somehow do not show up - - either on the blogs I visit or in response to comments left on my blog. That's really frustrating. Several times I have thoughtfully written a comment, a quip, a response only to find that it disappeared into the vastness of the blogosphere. That just sucks!

I am impressed with the response to my question "why do you blog." Some people have left sincere responses -- others, as is seen quite frequently in the blogosphere, have been "cute." The responses are as varied as the bloggers themselves. I encourage visitors to read the comments above, and leave their own. So far, my hypothesis (that people blog because they want to be loved) has not been clearly supported, but I am still waiting to see what is revealed by these responses.

As a somewhat prudish (albeit liberal) middle-aged woman, I was cheered to see one reader believes blogging is healthier than porn. I trust some blogging addicts, however, might differ.

Today's Sojourn

I have listed 265 visited blogs since October 10, 2006. How long do you think it will take me to view the millions of blogs posted in the blogosphere? A few of today's blogs made me chuckle:

Kissing4Press

Coffee2Go

Turning the Pages of Life

Meanwhile, I am debating whether if I should try to aggressively "market" my blog or just let readership develop organically.

Respite

I have not been sojourning through the "next blog" button this week because my work commitments have left me with little time to do so. I did spend a few moments viewing other blogs either through blogrolls or searching for specific types of blogs. That was a different experience as I was pro-active in my quest for blogs that pique my interest. This little diversion in no way threatens my commitment to the "next blog" button -- it just may be a few more days before I resume my random sojourn.

My Expanding Blog Involvement

For readers who are interested in staying up to date with my random sojourn through the "next blog" button, I just added a subscription feature. I continue to be amazed at all the free goodies that are available to bloggers -- counters, subscription monitors, linking monitors. . .and I'm still learning about what is out there. Wow.

Slogging

My sojourn has been somewhat interrupted by the demands of my working life which has made it very difficult to spend time at my computer this past week. The time I have been sojourning has been more like "slogging" through the "next blog" button. I'm kind of sick of it because I come upon so few spectacular blogs. There really is a lot of drek out there. Nevertheless, I am committed to my methodology.

This is not to say I do not do other types of blog viewing. I do visit blogs that are linked on some of my favorite blogs. On occasion, I search for blogs that cover themes of interest to me. But those visits are not memorialized herein because the purpose of this blog is to record my sojourn through the "next blog" button and my efforts to make other bloggers feel loved. (Although how much love can other bloggers feel from someone who is thinks most of the visited blogs are uninteresting?)

Bobby Griffin tried to get me to use his "random blog" button, asserting that the "next blog" button only takes me to the most recently updated blogs. In the past, I never paid attention to that. Last time I sojourned, I watched the dates on the blogs I hit. Some of them had not been updated for months. I think this disproves Bobby Griffin's assertion.