Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Blog LoTs...

Came across an interesting line of thought in one of the blogs I read.

Incidentally another interesting line of thought hit me right now, so the earlier one will have to wait till after this.

Now, recently i've been reading a lot of blogs ..damn, another line of thought. I'm positively spewing out LoTs today. Lets assimilate and consolidate them before I lose all these threads -

LoT 1). Life through a blog:

This is one thing I love to do. I take an unknown blog, start from the beginning and read through all the posts right till the end. Sometimes you can see the entire life of the person unfolding infront of you. His trials and tribulations, his triumphs and tragedies, his thoughts and actions (Damn, couldn't get a word for action starting with T :) ). Its amazing to think that people pour so much of themselves in their blogs. (Analogy to the Chamber of Secrets - Harry Potter. I hope for your sake that you're a Potter fan)

Sometimes if I just lean back and close my eyes, I can positively imagine the person and how he would behave in a particular situation. So I think I know that a blogger X would take something very emotionally while another Y would hurt inside but would move on with a gruff word. I know that A is funny but very insightful, though B's thoughts need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Is this a voyeuristic exercise? Maybe
Is it ethically correct to analyse and judge people on the basis of posts written under severe tension, or joy, or boredom? I don't know.

But whatever the actual answers may be, it is in human nature to try to understand other people. Thats why we're social animals - probably why language developed in all corners of the world. But another question does come up when this line of thought is pursued -

Does blogging make the blogger vulnerable?

We've all heard of employers going through potential employees' blogs as part of reference checks. Again, is that an ethical practice. A person may be interested in the occult arts and his blog may reflect that.

But does it really affect his work as a banker?

But it is again human nature to want to surround oneself with 'safe' people. People who are just like you, same aspirations, same thought processes. Non-conformity scares people. It shows up a mirror to people about what they could've been if they'd followed their hearts.

To talk about me, I am very honest in my blog and my guess is that if someone had the inclination to (and absolutely no work in the whole wide world !)read my blog in its entirety, they would be able to draw up some fairly correct conclusions about me. And thats a scary thought. To be predictable to strangers is a disquieting thought. Maybe private and closed circulation blogs do have something in them.

* On a positive note, I love the fact that a couple of years later I would be able to read all this and have a record of what I was as a person. Its one thing that motivates me to write here, and i'm closing in on a hundred posts - so the motivation is definitely strong)


LoT 2). Blog "connections":

How do you discover new blogs? Mostly it is through blogrolls and links provided in other blogs. So you start reading one blog, like its content and the updates. Then you go to links the blogger thought should be put up. Like that content too. Add them to your favourites too.

You comment on various posts where you feel you have something to say. You get responses and reciprocal visits and comments on your blog. But pretty soon the frequency of posts on those blogs reduce. You also get itchy to explore new blogs, so the frequency with which you visit those blogs goes down, comments too. And slowly they become a part of history. So the exchange of ideas and thoughts that is the basis of any lasting friendship comes to a halt.

Thus, the crux of this LoT, that i've lost in the paragraph above, is that blogs breed fickle connections (friendships?). They spark up, go through their honeymoon periods and then flicker out.

12 comments:

bhumika said...

It’s strange how deeply interested we can be other people’s lives – so much so that we read their blogs from start to finish and try to analyze their behaviour (yes, even I have done that!). So, does that make the blogger vulnerable? Vulnerability is a very subjective term. Keeping aside the example of bosses reading one’s blog, is there any other way people can use my posts to their advantage? Not atleast with the kind of stuff we write, I believe.

About friendships through blogs – I think it’s just good at the level of acquaintance; max to the level of sharing similar interests. In very rare cases do they go a step further…

Swapnil said...

Bhumika: This curiosity is a bit scary and strange, but yes, it is universal.

If anybody can predict how I would react to a particular situation - that makes me vulnerable. And I've put some very dark posts up here - will have to reassess if they should continnue to be up.

Blog friends, like online, email, chat buddies are good as long as they stay in that domain only. But maybe thats a closed way of looking at things, after all blogger meets, online dating..hell, even serious relationships growing out of online interation examples keep popping up.
but I guess thats a personal call...

Also, when is the next update on your blog coming?

bhumika said...

blog relationships? i know of a married couple who strangely got attracted to each other through their blogs! Yeah, that happens!!!

New post on my blog? Haven’t you checked it today?

Next post on blogging - soon!

Swapnil said...

B: oops, got so used to being disappointed everyday on visiting your blog that I didn't check it today :)

Yeah, well in an astonishing statistic 12% of all marriages in the US last year started as online things...so the 'strange attraction' part is increasingly becoming quite standard...

raindrops said...

The inherent desire to understand other person is not so intimidating and creepy as to provide a value judgement, somehow we use our own meaning making to ascribe a conveninent meaning which may not be the truth....

Somewhere i believe the friendship part through a blog is a very subjective experience and a mutual exchange of ideas

Swapnil said...

Raindrops: The desire itself is not creepy - it is the basis for all human relationships - however what I feel is creepy is the access a diary or a blog provides to strangers reading it...imagine some malicious person getting his/her hands on your personal diary...

All friendship is subjective, evolutionary, and based on communication of ideas. The only thing I find irksome is that it is extremely simple to assume a fake personality with all traits in the online world. Thats why I find online friends, relations a bit iffy...

raindrops said...

That's exactly my point the desire is not creepy but the urge to add our "value judgement" (good or bad)to it is....

Firstly do u even think that mere exchange of comments on blogs leads to friendship (its an illusion)??

If at all yes, then the vicious cycle of expectation that follows leads to further problems.
Lastly, there is always a CHOICE of not to choose (friends online)!

Swapnil said...

Raindrops:
Ok, got it now, I had misinterpreted your earlier comment...I agree with the no value judgement part.

A mere exchange of comments is not friendship, not even an illusion, but it is good to 'meet' people with complementary thoughts...and any exchange of ideas and thoughts can lead to increased interaction beyond comments.

I think I've used the word friends / friendship wrongly. I merely wanted to chronicle how 'connections through online channels' develop, evolve and end in the blogosphere. This is based on experience with no value judgements attached (No pun intended)

[I've changed the offending/confusing word in the main post - hope it makes more sense now :) ]

raindrops said...

Surely communicating with people having complimentary thoughts is a delight..
And if i am not wrong the talked about experience is with raindrops??

Swapnil said...

RD: Er..actually its an amalgamation of a number of online contacts over the duration of my blog and beyond...

Not yours though (yet!), because the cycle has not yet been completed, but you'll soon get bored of my blog and stop visiting - then interactions with you will also form a part of that amalgamation :)

...though I hope not :)

raindrops said...

Well it all depends on how long you are able to write interestingly and hold on the readers!!

Swapnil said...

RD: A challenge, do i perceive?
I shall seek to live upto your expectations, fair maiden :D