It’s fascinating that blogging developed in an era when no one has any time. We don’t really have time to read what our friends write, and we don’t really have time for recreational writing ourselves, except at the expense of time with family, or exercise, or cutting up vegetables so we can eat healthy meals instead of continually grabbing junk food for lunch. Here’s a case study: Here’s a CEO blogger at end of long week (yes, it’s only Monday, but the last seven days have been intense) sitting in front of her computer. It’s 8pm, and this is the first night she’s had at home for that whole week, except for a 1am to 7am stint on Thursday night betwixt trips. She could try to pull together notes from the conference she’s been to or write about random experiences of the day–barely making the 11.48 train from New York, or editing some sections of China Gold, a book she’s working on with sports experts Fan Hong. But the fact is that she needs to review some articles from the Encyclopedia of China, also on a rush schedule because of the Olympics, and wants to finish Winds of War, a novel about World War II that was immensely popular in China. The China connection is her justification for reading it, but the fact is that on a winter’s night in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, there couldn’t be anything better to curl up with at the end of a long day. And, to be frank, there are times she’d rather read the work of another writer, who took the time he needed to compose his story, than crank out a few lacksidasical paragraphs of her own, hoping that her readers, too, will find time to read a book and not just stories about the presidential campaign or the Superbowl triumph by the Giants – fascinating as both are. (Stay tuned for a report on Super Tuesday in Great Barrington, where I’ll be voting tomorrow.)
No links above to the Encyclopedia of China or China Gold because they’re not yet announced – but that’ll be taken care of this week!
Karen –
What an interesting observation! We blog and yet we have no time – and blogging is still growing. What’s that old saying – if you want something done find the busiest person you know/have on staff and give it to them!!!
Ann
David Eun of Google announced at the Information Industry Summit that there are 125,000 new blogs every day, and I’ve heard that kind of claim before. The numbers don’t surprise–every one sounds outlandish–but I am surprised that intelligent people act like that is proof of the value of the Internet. If fewer people are reading blogs or participating in Facebook and other social networking sites, what does it matter if there are more bloggers? Let’s acknowledge that blogging is just “journaling”–therapeutic but hardly of general value.