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July 24, 2004
blog-without-the-net
I forgot to mention in my post on perseverence that an investment, while for some people provides motivation (like--if I buy this membership to this gym, I'll go because I can't waste the money), for me, I can easily remind myself that money means very little to me and losing or wasting it is something I do ALL THE TIME whether I try to avoid it or not.
So the fact that I pay for this blog simply is not enough motivation for me to post daily.
However, I did want to comment on a recent article in our local paper, in which a staff writer publishes an article, meant to discuss "generation y," its fleeting attention span, and how marketers must pursue such a highly fickle target. The article looks and "feels" like a blog.
Missing, of course, is the ability for readers to comment directly to the blog (so that the comment becomes part of the blog).
If I could comment, it would go something like this:
This is an interesting genre: the "blog-without-the-net," the "old-person-impersonates-the-young," and both of those squished into the project of portraying a culture of quick-is-cool marketing. I am inconvinced by the overabundance of IM phrasing (like LOL and BBL, for instance) and the forced-sounding wit (refering to a woman named Bagby as "bag-lady").
More importantly, though, this article made me wonder at the blog as an exclusive gen y medium. My reactions are mostly borne out of my indignance that all blogs don't look like that (not that I fault or venerate writing based on, say, whether conventional capitalization rules are employed). My blogroll (still not up, I know) is made mostly of people at least my age or older, whose posts work to connect and engage sustained productive conversation--who are not, for the most part, stricken with media-induced attention deficit.
Lastly, the author here doesn't give gen y credit for integrating fast-paced thinking into a functional, useful existence--something that I envy. I feel like the article is mostly a parody of the blog and of a culture--esp that culture's language use--a parody that could be more reflexive and critical.
Posted by mryonker at July 24, 2004 10:48 AM
Comments
M-
Here's some hopeful advice, but maybe unsolicited advice is not something you want...I know I could just email directly, but why not post it? It's more fun this way! I read your blogs and I believe I am about as equally confused as you are, especially when the links took me to NOWHERE. But, I still enjoyed your bits of info and am terribly tempted to start myself. See, the most frustating thing about reading articles in papers and mags is the inability to be heard when agreeing or disagreeing.
As for your academics and the desire (sometimes) to do something else, I will have to say I took your advice and decided to do something with my life that I enjoy rather than being stuck in something that I hate. I am very tired at times, but am so very happy as to how my life is now (and has been). Sure, I am still confused and frustrated at times, but it's a heck of a lot easier now than ever before. So I hope you find your niche like I have.
Posted by: Mary Ann Steinacker-Grimm at August 11, 2004 12:05 PM
Good find. I just read Niedt's column, and you're on the mark re "could be more reflexive and critical." He's overlooked the comment feature (and where's his email address?), but he doesn't provide a single link, either, which is a *big* side of what blogs do. Strange to me that, according to the ed's note, Niedt was the one who asked to write in the style of a blog, but he diminishes blogs, writing his as a disjointed and unserious in cheat-code vernacular. Oh, and blogs perform over time, too, right? Makes me wonder which ones Niedt's been reading.
Posted by: Derek at August 29, 2004 09:16 AM