What, me? Blog?

I’m not convinced that hyper-connectedness via the internet is a positive thing for our world. I don’t even know if people are still saying internet, or is that just so 2005?

(I don’t even like the word blogger, aesthetically speaking.)


So how in the extremely-connected-world could I possibly be a blogger?
As I write, a wonderful (perhaps slightly paraphrased) quotation from David Suzuki’s, The Legacy, keeps running through my head: 

“We’ve become so dazzled by our technological accomplishments
that we have been blinded to their consequences.”

It rings out to me with so much truth… but what could possibly be wrong with being connected to interesting people you’d never meet in a million years? Advice, comfort, business networking – it’s all just a click away. Why is that not awesome? Why am I not fully convinced? What’s holding me back from total acceptance?


In the 80s’ classic movie, Pump Up the Volume, teenagers had to risk imprisonment for trying to connect, via illegal radio broadcasting, with like-minded kids. In this movie, a teenager committed suicide because he felt so alone. Now, kids can go on-line and find in seconds a community of thousands from all around the world who feel the exact same way.

(I don’t know if teen suicide rates have dropped or not – with raging hormones and an underdeveloped brain, there will always be some “reason” to kill yourself.)  The point is, Pump Up the Volume is now completely irrelevant. (But Christian Slater is just as hot as he always was, even if Hard Rain really sucked.)


Still, I hate that deadened, glazed look in my son’s eyes when he sits in front of a computer (or TV) and I can’t stand his vehement reaction when I tell him he’s had enough and it’s time for him to go and do something else.
I hate that my husband often can’t have a conversation with me without checking his phone every minute.
What’s more, I hate that Mac has picked up on this annoying side effect of their product and is now somehow using it as a marketing strategy! Grab one of these! You’ll never bother to look at the real world again!
There is an addictive component to the internet that most of us either ignore or don’t care about. (Let’s face it, if someone suggested that a certain drink or food was addictive, there’d be a frantic push to control it. I realize, of course, that the internet is largely uncontrollable – at least it is outside of North Korea.)
So how could I become a blogger?

This brave new world has grabbed me and pulled me in. I haven’t figured any of it out yet. Maybe I never will. But if you’re curious about my journey through this modern day wonderland, then read my blog – yes, I really wrote those words: my blog.