...errr...not that she always doesn't...you know...but...but this time it is something nice about blogging and I - like the entire bandwagon I jumped on sometime time ago - am so used to saying bad things about the uselessness of this hobby I thought this was a good reflection:
...there's the other side to blogging. The relationships for the sake of relationships. The friendships and sense of belonging that comes with this kind of communion. It's fascinating really. How many people I feel close to but have never met. Or even better, the people I have met and now consider to be my closet friends. We often think of blogging as something that will propel our careers or at the very least show people how smart we are. In my experience, none of that is possible without the relationships. The real reason we blog.Yapping for yapping sake to yap with yappers. Nothing wrong with that.
But compare and contrast this BBC tech story "Digital media 'empowering users'". How have you or I been empowered? And what do you make of a quote like this?
"People want to connect to information and connect to their friends," he said. "The focus will be on highly personalised experiences." Suggesting that advertisers might be missing a trick, he added: ""Today only about 5% of global advertising is online, yet 20% of media is consumed online. This is an amazing opportunity for advertisers."How am I empowered by an impending boom in advertising and how am I connected with friends by being stuck in front of the blue screen, no longer writing letters or making phone calls? I think Gordo has it right, if only in part:
Even though I have a 100MB connection to my office at work, I still spend a couple of hours almost every evening glued to this damn thing. I can't just give it up, though. It's not that simple. Knowing that it's available to me, but not turned on would be turture.Remember in the mid-90s when they spoke about internet addiction? I think that is now labelled empowerment.
Comments
cm - March 7, 2006 8:30 AM
I'm not addicted, I'm empowered. Yeah, that works.
Flea - March 7, 2006 9:33 AM
You could try reading the rest of the BBC article for examples of what they are describing as empowerment. Or there is always the option of using your hobby to whine about what a waste of time your hobby is. Think of it as a kind of meta-blogging. Or better yet as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Alan - March 7, 2006 9:42 AM
I don't know why you are so affected by others thinking about how media is not always what it says it is, Flea. You will say such thought is not thought, maybe unthought or disloyalty to the brand. I think, though, I will return your whinging angst over people not agreeing with you by courier soon. Try to add something or - imagine - actually share what you think. Do you actually think there is no downside to your sport of choice?
Alan - March 7, 2006 10:05 AM
You might begin some examples of the real shift as referred to later in the article where that shift represents a qualitative improvement over what has existed before as opposed to a amateur get together:<blockquote class="smalltext">"Collaborative usage of the internet is rising," said Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopaedia written by thousands of users. "This is a social innovation, and not just a technological innovation," he said. Collaborative editing of music and video content were the next likely trends, although this depended on free licensing and the availability of easy-to-use software, he added.</blockquote>Where I think Cyn has something and you, toy-driven consumer that you are, do not is the idea of real relationship. The difference I would have is that it can only foster where there is pre-existing strength of commonality and is actually harmful to relationships where there is weakness in the relationship. Hence the failure of business for all businessess other than blogging consultancies.
Cyn - March 7, 2006 11:59 AM
The telephone allowed us to "reach out and touch someone". It used to be that you couldn't get your teenager to get off the phone, often installing an extra line to accomodate their 'addicition' to forming relationships. Now they're on to MSN and the wonders of instant messaging.
Ask a teenager if being in a relationship is a hobby, the answer will be, "Oh my god, like are you crazy. My friends are like more important than anything."
Then there's the whole 'being out of the loop' thing. Who wants to miss anything? Relationships take time and if you're making time for it, then it obviously is a prioroty for you.
FYI - I like being nice.
Gordo - March 7, 2006 12:09 PM
Yay! I'm empowered! I'll be sure to tell my wife that the next time she hollers at me to get away from the computer. :-D
Cyn - March 7, 2006 12:09 PM
Just noticed a funny speeling error in my original post:
"Or even better, the people I have met and now consider to be my <b>closet</b> friends."
Oops...I DO have a few closet(ed) friends, but I meant closest.
Alan - March 7, 2006 12:18 PM
How does 2000's IM differ from three hours a night for the 1980s telephone teen, Cyn?
Marian - March 7, 2006 1:51 PM
I think the 'real relationship' part is less important (and fairly deceptive/over-rated anyway), than the ability to talk back to the TV, to have a discussion, and to participate in something like democratic processes. So, I'm with Flea. It is empowering. I've written a rock opera on the subject over there on my (now not so defunct) blog. Click on the link above, anyone who is interested. It’s not a response to what Cyn wrote. I wrote it on Saturday. It's just a coinkidink.
Alan - March 7, 2006 2:03 PM
Coinkidinkiriffic. What have you done with your empowerment today?<p>I am quite willing to be exposed...as a hypocrite or at least dim (which I suspect is the Flea's real hobby interest). <p>A good recent contrarian example against my position is the way messages have been conveyed from this blog via blog pal John of Argghhh via someone called Candace with whom I have never conversed to people in communication of heartfelt best wishes with people near Trevor Greene through a sort of organic chain.