Bwogging

I started this blog because it was something I had always wanted to do, not because I had much to say (obviously), but because it seemed like something I had to take advantage of in this day and age. Instantaneous communication, instantaneous everything. Who was I if I was not involved?

It's a shame, really, because my life could easily come off as really shallow. The nature of my blog posts, for example, offer nothing that most would consider "substantial." With that being said, blog posts that do seem to represent the ideal modern person. These are the people who think and conceptualize on this "instantaneous" level. They're able to read through the world and analyze it rapidly, relaying information that not only seems dense and significant, but quick and concise.

To quote Marshall McLuhan from 1964):
"Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned. Rapidly, we approach the final phase of the extensions of man--technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society, much as we have already extended our senses and our nerves by the various media."

Baby talk will probably soon become binary. Don't quote me on this.

Anyway, it seems like the "cool kids" in society (albeit ones in a Western context) could easily be represented by the identity of a successful blogger. This is a very broad, generalized claim, but one that I don't mean to oversimplify. What I mean is that blogging is a medium all its own; the form of communication that exists within and beyond it is shaped by the nature of the Internet. Unfortunately (and I use this word empathetically), not everyone exists (or lives accordingly) on the Internet platform. There still exist people (my mom for one) who never made the seamless crossover from a mechanic to electronic way of living. The changes they see in society--or the world for that matter--seem only to have occured because "technology took over." Technology, for all intents and purposes, has been here all along; it simply advances when the desired scale of performance becomes larger. The imploding nature of the Internet--the idea that the world is made small again in relation to the computer screen--is overwhelming to people like my mom who still need to put a face with a name in order to consider it a credible source. Communication, therefore, becomes affected/infected.

My public speaking teacher who claims to have been born in the 19th century (yeah, I know) will not be shaken by the times. She gave us a pop quiz the other day that tested our ability to listen because according to her, we are "a generation of the worst listeners." Now, I'd like to think I'm an alright listener, but this test apparently proved otherwise. In my serious defense, the story was about some war that took place somewhere and it was all supposed to connect with the physical form of the letter "A." In other words, it was the most bullshit quiz I ever had to take and it would have been better served as a drinking game. Still, when she speaks, she thinks she's tranquilizing the room with her colorful words, quarantining a room full of brain dead youth. What she seemingly refuses to understand is that every person in that room is a listener, just a different kind. I hold nothing against her, perhaps the study of public speaking is becoming an ancient artform. There's really little need to study body language habits when so much interaction seems to exist digitally.

Still, I can't help but feel like I don't fit in.

For one, my blog posts (I'm pretty certain) are like my typical, every day dialogues: meaningless. I simply can't help but think that's the only way to be. With so much information shooting at us (television, websites, advertisements, other people talking, etc etc), selective hearing does not become so much an issue that needs to be fixed, but a form of filtering out as much as possible. As far as survival for our species, I believe it's important to retain what's necessary. Listen to the other side; our "enemies" are only misunderstood. That sort of thing.

Sure, I'm probably not taken seriously half the time, but I don't understand the point of making myself seem important when I know I'm just like everybody else. Why act like I'm either going to tell someone something they've never heard before (most likely impossible), or act like I'm hearing something I've never heard before (DEFINITELY impossible. Kidding, but, you know)?

When I mentioned the "cool kids" before, I meant this in the most admirable way possible. It is their ability to overlook the nature of the Internet, yet still find a way to communicate on it in a way that still speaks with sincerity and sensitivity. It could just be how we have been trained to read information, but the fact that some people are able to use this medium so effectively really makes me appreciate the nature. There's less pretension, less of a desire to come off as intelligent. The point is not to serve information, per se, but create the stage for interaction amongst readers. A good blogger is only there to shed light on anything, but leave it to the readers to finish the rest.

Now, getting back to the actual blogging part...
Updates coming soon. Promisemeanit.