Blogging...the Great Deception...

When I first learned the word "blog" I thought it was the ugliest word ever and had no idea what anyone was talking about. Then some friends of mine sent me links to their blogs and I realized what a cool thing it was and how you could instantly catch up with old friends and see what they are doing without all the complications of email and letters. I truly believed that my life would become even more simple because of this great phenomenon, and that our lines of communication would increase with this great tool.

But now, I am past the honeymoon stage and I can see what the blog has truly done to me and those around me. I am a slave to the blog and I spent at least 3X more time on the computer trying to "catch up" and read over 50 different blogs...and the number keeps growing. I feel almost guilty if I don't check up and keep updated with all the blog entries.

I believed that it was going to help me communicate better with people, but that is a lie. While it is easy to read other people's entries and see pictures of their adorable kids, I don't think I have had any greater communication with people...in fact, I think my communication with some people has slowly deteriorated. The blog deceived me into believing this will take place of sending hundreds of individual emails to friends and family. I thought if I started my blog, more people would communicate with me because now they can get more information about us from the blog and we would have more to talk about. But it so far from he truth. I think it's too easy now to see what people are doing and then move onto the next blog that we need to read, and there is no communication between the two parties.

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood because I haven't heard from anyone in a long time. No calls, no emails and no comments after the blogs...is this a guilt trip?...maybe..or maybe I'm saying it's time to go back in time and start writing letters to each other through snail-mail. Instead of quick one-sentenced comments to say how cute your kids are for the billionth time, people might actually think about what they would like to say and say something meaningful. Or maybe pick up the phone and call an old friend to catch-up because it's been while.

No matter how I look at it, I only see a steady decline in the line of real and personal communication because of the blog....shesh...I still hate the word. Maybe I need to get some sleep. In case there is any sudden surge of phone calls, emails and comments...my personal secretary will take care of them and she will be sure to send you a general automated reply. :)