Internet for introverts
It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.
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APRIL QUESTION: How long have you been blogging? (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?) What do you like about it and how has it changed?
MY ANSWER: I have never been a regular, or even a frequent visitor to Facebook or other social media sites, but I have been blogging regularly, if not often, for over 10 years. I started my website and blog on WP – this one – in November 2013. At about the same time, I started collecting my online friends: people whose blogs I like and subscribe to.
What I like about blogging in general is huge. I’m an extreme introvert. I don’t have many real-life friends and I don’t socialize often, not even by phone. I always feel iffy at a party of more than 3 participants.
But even introverts feel lonely sometimes. The internet and the blogosphere provide people like me, the extreme introverts, with a secure outlet for socializing without ever stepping outside our home. Whenever I feel lonely, whenever I need a dose of social interaction, I can log on to the internet and read one of my friends’ blogs. And comment. And follow links someplace else. I don’t have to go anywhere. I don’t have to talk to people face to face. I could do it on my own schedule, sitting in my own comfortable chair, and carrying on for as long as it suits me. Surfing the web alleviates my loneliness, gives me an illusion of being social … somewhat. Besides I learn a lot of interesting stuff while reading various blogs.
On the other side of this equation, I write my own posts, and someone else might visit and comment, if they are interested. In life, I’m very quiet. If I’m with 2 other people, they tend to talk, and I usually stay silent. I’m uncomfortable if I have to talk publicly. But my blog is my place on the net. I can talk there and feel safe. I can say what I want, without censoring myself. I can express my feelings without chafing inside that my readers might get bored or angry at my words. After all, if they don’t like what they read, they can always close the window on their computer. Or I might delete their comments if I don’t like them. It is my blog after all. I’m in charge of all its aspects. Hence, blogging is not as much a dialog for me as it is a monologue, a sheltered venue for speaking my mind, for venting my emotions.
Besides, the blogging format tends to offer like-minded individuals safe places to congregate, to chat about what is important to them. Writers meet on certain websites, like https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/, to talk about grammar issues, book promotion, vocabulary quirks, etc. Ranting is allowed too, as so many of us need a good rant once in a while, when life throws us one curveball too many. Motorcycle riders, gardening enthusiasts, or alternative healing aficionados have their own internet forums to verbalize their opinions and gripe about their problems. It is so nice to meet sympathetic folks who understand you without ever leaving your safe and cozy nook, isn’t it?
