Blogging to live, living to blog

What a world we live in!

I've always been a bit perplexed by the concept of blogging. We are steadily becoming disassociated with the people around us, and yet we crave community. Where we once stood around at the corner shop and expounded on all things relevant and irrelevant, we now post our words to the net, in all their misspelled glory.

So the question might be why do we care? Why are we interested in the words of people we don't know while we can't make the time to listen to the person on the street? Perhaps, and I'm just speculating here, we are simply more comfortable with an impersonal setting. I see teenagers all the time who would rather send a text message than place a phone call.

When I speak with other people who deal with the public, the topic of civility often comes up. I don't know how many times I've heard someone say they feel people have gotten less polite just in the last ten to twelve years. Now, I don't think people are inherently bad. But perhaps we are working towards unlearning some of the social skills that used to be considered important.

In some ways it's all about risk and reward. Most of us know what it's like to tell a joke and then see blank expressions where we hoped there would be laughter. Those are risks we should be willing to take, but increasingly we seem content to sit at our monitors. Think about it - when you type "lmao" - are you really?