So, I've been reading…
…and listening to the radio (NPR) a lot lately. It’s nice to have a break from school.
A recent interview on NPR (you can find the interview here) caught my attention and got me thinking about blogging. The person being interviewed spoke about how difficult it was to get one’s novel published and how there are so many people turning in novels for publishing. (Oh, I remember now, it was one of the dudes from Twelve, a publishing company that only publishes 1 book a month.)
Karp, the fellow being interviewed, made a comment about how we, western society in general, have become so enamored with ourselves that we all love to write, to express ourselves but very few of us actually read.
This comment stuck with me. I then read a few articles submitted to me by some friends, one of which, found in the Atlantic, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” reminded me of my own internet reading habits. In fact, it’s only this summer (and perhaps a month of last summer) that I actually sat down and read entire books.
Another article, a book review, “The Dumbest Generation” in the LATimes also got me to thinking about how much context we are missing in this practice of skimming.
A lot of this may simply be the older generation complaining about the kids and their new fangled ways of doing things – and I’m hip to that (more or less) but it also seems to me that we are loosing touch with context and the practice of introspection and the just plain thinking about things we read about because we are in such a rush to finish reading and get on to the next thing.
So, I’ve been thinking about my blogging and trying to decide whether I’ll stop or change the type of posts I do make. What do I really have to say, anyway? Perhaps I’ll just share the things that I discover in reading that mean something to me. It may be a really good practice to shut up and listen.
I’m not sure, but these thoughts are the reason I haven’t been posting much over the past month. I’m not sure that writing more is what I want to do.
I think you’re wrong, but I’m not sure, it was kind of long and honestly I skimmed the whole thing after the first paragra — oh look, a bunny!
Mike, Just because some people have opinions do not make it correct or for that matter, incorrect. You may agree with them wholeheartedly but, there are many of us out there who feel ok with our skimming of topics. I am a fan of reading,(I used to be a journalism /english major), but there are many people in our age group that have careers, children , pets, etc. and skimming to keep updated is all we have time for. Just because someone says we in our society are too full of ourselves to read instead of just writing does not sit well with me. If I read a book and then blog about my thoughts on it does that counteract each other and therefore make me less egocentric? ……
“A lot of this may simply be the older generation complaining about the kids and their new fangled ways of doing things – and I’m hip to that (more or less) but it also seems to me that we are loosing touch with context and the practice of introspection and the just plain thinking about things we read about because we are in such a rush to finish reading and get on to the next thing.”
2 things –
* yes, it sure is Grumpy Old Man Ranting
* you don’t know if “we” are losing touch with all that. If you’re lucky, you may know if *you* are, but you can’t speak for society.
Ed:
Yes, you are right. I can’t speak for society. True enough. It’s probably my own sense of a loss of context. It may also be that what I perceive in myself as a loss of context I may suspect in others, but as you point out, that doesn’t necessarily make it true.
I do notice that as I get older I enjoy going slower and really savoring things. Haha! I think I’m well on my way to old man, funny thing is, I think I enjoy it!
Anne:
I don’t think it necessarily makes us more egocentric or even suggests that, but it does remind me of this:
One of the practices I work on is listening to people fully. It is amazing how we get so wrapped up in ourselves that we often think about what we are going to say next in a conversation or we think about things unrelated to the conversation while the person we are conversing with is speaking. We, generally, have a difficult time listening fully. This is a habit of ego and by getting wrapped in that we miss what is going on with the other person.
They make a point of practicing listening fully in the Sangha I participate in so I suspect that this problem isn’t just mine. It’s a general human tendency.
Likewise, if we are very busy expressing ourselves and writing about ourselves, are we really experiencing the world around us?
But your point is well taken – our lifestyles are not, generally, designed for taking things slowly and really getting to the meat of things and the benefit of not delving into things deeply is that we can sample many different things and we are reacher thereby.
Certainly, my own educational experience is an example of this – with three undergraduate degrees one each in Computer Science/Math, English/Religion and the final one in Nursing. My broad and shallow exposure certainly has benefited me differently (and not better or worse) than a more through approach to any of those topics.
Hrm. You both have given me something to think about. Thanks! =)
One of the reasons I don’t blog (and basically don’t read any except yours) is the same reason I’m not a big fan of email—the form tends to encourage sloppy writing, sloppy reading, and as The Atlantic article argued, sloppy thinking. I am, however, a huge fan of essay form. To me a well crafted essay is a fully matured blog entry. And yes, it can appear in digital format and can even appear within a blog–but it has meatiness to its content that stimulates and satiates a hungry mind in a way that “bloggy” writing fails to do.
I could argue my point at length but given the constraints of a “comment” reply, I’d ask you to compare the original Atlantic article to this blog entry that was sent to me by a friend in response (http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/the_great_seduction/2008/07/pay-attention-h.html). Personally, I’d rather read one entry in the style of the first than a dozen entries in the style of the second. My objection to blogging is not because of its brevity or egocentricity but because the entries generally lack depth, thoughtfulness, and craft. And if those qualities seem like an awful lot to ask of someone who is “just blogging,” then beat me about the head for being a demanding old curmudgeon but your objection just made my point.
I don’t mean to discourage you or anyone else from writing—I love a good read. But if an author–_any_ author–demands the attention of his reader, then he ought to make sure he has something memorable to say.
I think I know the feeling. I find times when I just have to walk away from my blog. It gets under my skin, sometimes, this feeling that I have to write even if I don’t have anything to say. So I’m learning to stop and to come back when I want to. It’s not earning me a big audience, but the point is to have fun.
As infrequently as I check your blog, I’d be disappointed if you stopped writing. Maybe it is bias, but compared with the glut of nonsense and garbage out there, yours is an enjoyable read and one that I find odd comfort in when I do read it. I suspect that it simply reminds me of you and that we are having a conversation, albeit a one-sided conversation (though I can always remedy that by adding comments…like now!)
Okay, I’m going to reverse my original position on blogging as it occurred to me as I was making notes in my “commonplace book” that blogging is, in many ways, a modern version of this moldy old tradition. (I still retain other objections, but I’ll save those for an inebriated ramble the next time we all get together). Also, the bottom line is that I enjoy reading your blog. I’d enjoy reading Ajit’s too, but he’s a lazy old bastage.
Obviously I have not been able to restrain myself from posting after all has been said and done, something which I think demonstrates my addiction to talking about what I think regardless if they really care. =)
As an aside, Amanda, I do find it funny you read my blog considering I don’t correct (much) for grammar or spelling. Is it painful?
No, as I said, I really enjoy your blog. It helps that I don’t read lots of them (basically just yours) and that I find your twisted little brain interesting. You have that rare mix of being skeptical yet eager for new ideas that keeps things interesting.
As Ajit well knows, I’m prone to bouts of hermetic isolation (“People suck!”) and the ability to reliably seek out a voice who still _believes_ is heartening. I’m a sucker for a humanist.
As for spelling and grammar, don’t kid yourself. You’re just peachy.
<— emoticon just for you.
[...] I remembered how I posted on the topic of “all that writing, no one reading” that seems symptomatic of America’s (the world’s?) [...]
[...] I remembered how I posted on the topic of “all that writing, no one reading” that seems symptomatic of America’s (the world’s?) [...]