I am not sure if this observation has much validity or it’s a reflection of my own changed consumption and writing modes. It could very well be the latter, which in itself is a result of a long chain of physical and emotional circumstances of the last couple of years. So I won’t make a mistake of claiming I’ve discovered some universal tendency.
What I see lately in blogs is change of psychological climate. First, there is certain alienation of individual bloggers accompanied by consolidation of various “party groups” and increased numbers of their commenters. Few years ago it was generally welcomed to use someone else’s blogroll as a walk into his inner circle, to put yourself into his shoes (or reading glasses) – not only to understand that person better, through his preferences, but as a means of widening your own perspectives without immediate commitment. Now this activity is tolerated, at best, and sometimes pointed out as impertinence or even considered suspicious. And when I go reading the “secondary” blogrolls (listed on the margins of the blogs on my own roll) I see changes, too: general-interest bloggers who in the past attracted lively discussions under almost every post, are now gathering , maybe, 1 or 3 responses – in a month. It’s not that their observations and interests became boring, it’s that life became more difficult for everyone, and there is not much point in endless chatting on topics one might live without. The general mood changed, too: we all are more pessimistic, gloomily focused on immediate tasks, out teeth are clenched in perseverance while we put on a cheerful mask of camouflage de jour. It could be, of course, that these notes are limited to my own circle and more-or-less age group; I’m sure the 20-somethings having a great time right now and life sparkles for them as ever…
What do you think?
[posing the question I am fully prepared that it'll gather no response whatsoever, in compliance with observations above]
LOL. I’ll ride in on a white steed/keyboard and save you from no response.
Interesting observation.
First reaction: recession. Everyone is grim; worried about uncertain financial future. Signs are not good. Washington is working against us. Inflation looms.
Second reaction: natural maturation of the internet. I remember the very beginning, sometime in the 1990s, with that slow dial-up connection, when I surfed blindly from place to place, reading random persons observations about anything at all. I was semi amazed. My mouth maybe hung open. The internet was miraculous! Now, maybe, we are beginning to tailor our internet usage more to our interests, more to our true selves. We are using it less out of amazement, and more as a personally tailored suit which fits us just so.
Texans to the rescue!
It was the same same jaw-dropping discovery for me in 2002…or was it 2003? For a long time I didn’t dare to type a word, just wandered around amazed at intellectual giants (and actual writers! journalists! all-around smart people!) sharing their thoughts, practically live, for anyone who cared to read. Unbelievable.
Tailored, yes – but didn’t we have, more or less, same preferences and spheres of interest then, at the beginning? Then as now I would quietly skip, f.ex., posts by IT guys/ software writers when they talked shop – but I was very interested when they discussed poetry, linguistics or cultural tendencies (and they did!)
I recall so many great blog names that used to attract crowds from all walks and experiences; there was a guy (Gawain?Guillaume?), a Polish-American expat to Thailand, whose art essays (I can’t demote them as mere “posts”) were exemplary, and whose threads were just as interesting – where is he now? Disappeared. So many people simply stopped blogging, some turned to Twitter (fi!), some are only writing about politics, some – on the contrary – turned to everything BUT politics. Some are fossilized.
Is this whole thing a process of natural… crystallization?
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