Probably but we are, as a people, more distracted with the TikToks and Reels of the world. It's the modern day equivalent of flipping channels. It's mostly a lot of garbage with people stitching in their own reactions to various things. There's still a lot of entertainment value and a little bit of mindless scrolling can serve to unwind our stressed-out selves. A lot of it is "same $h!t, different day". Oh well.
So what role in all this high paced scrolling: doom, learning or otherwise, does blogging have? Honestly, I think it makes a move in a direction that is sorely needed in the frantic pace of post-covid life. For me, the writer, it helps collect my thoughts. It even helps get nagging ones out of my head, leaving me a little less distracted. It slows me down and while I think much of what I write is as meaningless all those tiktok stitches, it helps get me into a form of flow. Flow is a term I discovered in reading "Drive" by Daniel Pink (I highly recommend this read for anyone looking for keys to motivate).
According to Psychology today flow is "a cognitive state where one is completely immersed in an activity—from painting and writing to prayer and surfboarding. It involves intense focus, creative engagement, and the loss of awareness of time and self".
I guess we could be in flow while surfing TikToks, but that seems like a little bit of a waste (no judgement though).
In writing I get to explore some of my lines of thinking and really craft what is on my mind. Some of it may come out as an absolute trash stream of consciousness, other times there's actually a little bit of viable insight. Times when I'm blogging regularly I'm more open to any and all that falls onto the keys. What keeps me away is too much stress/drive to have to get things done in the real world, or feeling like this needs to be an exercise in perfection. The former creates enough distracting thoughts that getting into the "flow" really requires effort bordering on mental anguish. In the latter, sometimes I feel like this thing I call a blog needs to be "about" something. True, there are streaks where I talk about things like exercise, diet, etc. This is usually when I'm feeling motivated/energized about such things. However, it's a trap to think that this blog needs to be on a single topic. Then I find myself working too hard to put a story together. Sometimes that's okay, but usually not necessary.
Another pitfall I run into is worrying about getting reads or tayloring my writing to try to meet peoples' approval. This can keep my writing back as there are a number of topics I ponder writing that may be uncomfortable or find disapproval. I would say that now that I am six paragraphs into this post, this may be my most tragic flaw. Of course I don't mind being a "nice guy" but at times it comes at the expense of me being me.
It's a tough balance to strike. There's value in a stoic approach to things. Kneejerk reactions and ranting can do a lot of damage to reputations and relationships. It's been well documented, but the echo chambers modern media is creating to build market shares, etc. is a key example of this. It teaches that instead of understanding where others are coming from we should just label those that disagree as the enemy and not worth interaction. This, in my mind could be the downfall of America, splintering by a million ideologies resulting in no commonality. Micro civil wars fought in comment sections and yard signs.
I'm not arguing that we should all believe the same thing or have the same politics, but we should realize that people have their reasons for what they believe. We should be willing to discuss hard topics and try to understand and empathize, not alienate. This is more nuanced though, as a realist and scientist I do think objective truth is worth defending wherever possible, kindly and firmly. We, as a modern people seem to fail at the kindly part. Unfortunately, it's easier on our psyches to just label someone as an idiot and enemy. Kindness is the hard but necessary part.
Digressing (whew!) so what do you get out of reading this. Well the first hope is you get to know me a little more. Secondly, I'm hoping you get exposure to some new thinking and ideas that may inspire or at least make you think. I've tried, and still occasionally do, attempt to monetize this thing. That isn't so much me hoping to make a killing off of my blogging but is more a statement of my curiosity about how things work. Figuring out how to place ads and configure the page was an interesting exercise. I still drop some Amazon associates links here and there, but only really try to place things that I have found neat or beneficial. Any business that comes from it is just gravy; tasty but not necessary.
I do have my own 3D printing set up and a small e-Bay store of my wares. There I am trying to actually turn my online presence into something monetary, if only to support the hobby. Please reach out to me directly if you need anything. I'm also happy to get you set up and trained to make :)
The last thing I hope you get is a light distraction from the day to day. Sit on the toilet and take a few moments to see what footballepilogue.com is up to. It won't have quite the variety of stitches as TikTok might, but it may save on your swiping fingers for a moment.
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