Why do people blog? Why do I blog?

Recently in a Relief Society meeting (ladies church meeting) one of the Sisters spoke up about her lack of understanding as to why anyone would want to waste their time on the computer with social media. Her comments seemed to reflect what she had observed online. The Polly Perfect, nothing is wrong with my life, let's stay in this beautiful bubble, my house is spotless, my kids are perfect, I love my job, my husband is the best man ever to walk the earth,....etc....

Honestly, I had the same thoughts months ago. My first time ever reading blogs I was blown away at what people actually put about themselves online for the entire world to read. I was alarmed at the apparent lack of safety some took. At one point I even felt nauseated by one lady's blog. After a short visit to her blog it was obvious money was no problem for her to get and spend. However, I am not one to give up so I perused a few more blogs and discovered they are much like books in the library. Blogs could be classified based on their content and overall purpose. Why people blog is a personal choice one makes based on whatever their motivational factors are.

Here are some of the reasons I have discovered why people blog.

1. it is an online journal
2. families post specific events that can be viewed elsewhere in the country by other family members
3. some people like to share their talents in photography, writing, crafts, cooking, etc.. 
4. a springboard for tutorials rather than using YouTube
5. an alternative to Facebook, Twitter, Skipe, Cell phones, emails, etc.....
6. some people use it as a storefront for the products they make and sell (ie, crafts, needlework, etc...)
7. blogging is a place to vent without the neighbors knowing (unless you have lots of followers)
8. some people use it as a place to put the ideal in their life, maybe the picture perfect life
9. a place to share what one has learned and hope to help others along the way
10. some bloggers enjoy writing and use a blog as their scratch pad, so to speak
11. blogs can be about absolutely anything a person wants to write about, capture in picture, video, art and music
12. for some it is a social outlet with their followers

This list could go on and on. From my limited perspective in blogging it seems to answer a need for the individual bloggers. For me it was an alternative to emailing messages and photos to my family who seemed to have continual problems receiving the photos as the images were too big to fit in their mailboxes. Of course, I could actually write a letter and drive to a Walmart(100 mile trip) and have pictures developed and sent to family but that takes much more time and sometimes I don't have a day to it. Blogger.com allows me to write what I feel is interesting, post pictures of events and include my distant family into a portion of our life without the burden of long distance travel. I know that this cannot replace a real face to face interaction with loved ones. However, it has closed the gap of many miles and connected our family.

Sunshine wrote a research paper for her Computer Tech course on how technology has changed lives. Just in her short life the advancements in technology are beyond my comprehension. I remember using the rotary telephone and when my parents got a touch tone phone we thought we were big stuff. Blogging is just one of many inventions that has changed our ways of communication. These amazing inventions can be great tools and blessings to lives or they can be miserable time wasters and devices that harm. How we choose to use any form of technology is a personal choice and responsibility. 

My mom wondered if blogging was cathartic for me. Yes, mom it is. I take quiet time at the end of the day and reflect on what good things have happened to our family. I write about the positive and choose to leave the negative on it's own much of the time. Sure, there are things that go on in our everyday life that are left out, things that are upsetting or challenging and good things to numerous to write about. Overall the goal is to write about specific events that can include the extended family. A mini tour into our life for that brief moment. 

I have since revisited that Polly Perfect's blog that truly made me nauseated. She is a blessed woman with many talents and resources who chooses to focus on the positive. I imagine her house isn't always perfect as she does have humans living in it but her blog works for her. 

This blog is a beginning step for me. It may or may not continue in the future. It may develop and grow into something more or it may simply be a woman's writings about her day with little or no interest level for those outside the immediate family. Either way you are free to choose to read or click onto another. Whatever a person's motivation is for blogging I hope it works for them and in some small way if this blog touches a heart, inspires a mind or lifts another's burden through shared experiences than I am satisfied. 

Blessings to all as we continue on in this life learning and growing.

Melanie