I'm not a political blogger, though I often used my blog to express my political opinions. I'm not a cooking or crafts blogger, though I sometimes provided recipes and candle-making advice. I'm not a Pagan blogger, though I offered commentary about my community of faith from time to time. But most importantly, I'm not (or tried not to be) a whinging, self-indulgent blogger who used the vehicle of the Internet to inflict my personal woes upon the world.
Beyond that, I've learned the LiveJournal lesson; don't go there. Don't open yourself up to comments, don't comment in others' LiveJournals unless you have something completely innocuous to say, and don't engage the community. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. Hold it out from you the way you might hold a soiled nappie and carry it, only when you must, gingerly to the rubbish bin. The same applies to online forums and chat groups, unless the only and stated purpose of these groups is the transmission of information about a specific topic. And even then, lurk unless you have something completely innocuous to say that cannot be better and more importantly said to a 98.6 with whom you are sharing the same oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules at the same time.
The Internet changes people the same way gamma radiation changed David Banner. Perfectly sane, reasonable humans become large, green and raging in the face of consequence-free communication and do not consider that the people they bicker at, insult and otherwise injure with their words go away from the encounter wounded. Moreover, they do not appear to realize that what they type onto a screen becomes real when they click 'Submit' in the same way that shouting at their spouses, their children and their pets is real. Instead, the Internet is that place they go to vent, to make enemies, to side with those whose opinions stroke the most comfortable of their suppositions about the world, to create community in two dimensions. I have often wondered if it would be more appropriate to "Enemy" people on social networking sites than it is to "Friend" them, since I think the former happens more often than the latter does anyway.
All this by way of saying that over the years, I have immersed in the bit stream like a lobster in a hot pot and been lucky enough to crawl out again before I was completely boiled. So I don't keep a LJ, don't have a MySpace page, don't engage in online discussions of any kind except in the rarest of circumstances and never allowed commenting on my blog. It's not and never was worth the risk. In addition, it fosters a kind of addiction, the kind that made me stagger out of bed in the morning to check my e-mail in the same way I used to stagger out of bed and smoke. No thanks. I think that stuff causes cancer.
I'm not saying that all people who engage in online social networking along with the online social networking they engage in are bad. I'm saying that online social networking is emotionally risky in the same way that bungee jumping off a low cliff is physically risky. You might not crack your head open on the ground like an egg on a skillet edge, but you probably will. I'm also saying that making the Internet an integral part of ones lifestyle is problematic in the same way that playing Everquest until ones butt sticks to the office chair and ones clothes need to be taken out and burned is problematic. It isolates people from one another and permits social behaviors that it should not.
As I write this essay, my good husband is upgrading his web site and plans to begin a cooking blog. I think this is a fine idea and wholly support his use of blogging technology for this purpose. In fact, I am inspired by his decision to make my own virtual space more useful to others, or at least more relevant to my career and to stop 'spending time' on the Internet. My time is a currency I've fought for years to spend on things that are meaningful to me, and the Internet for the sake of itself just isn't. I still intend to keep a music journal that provides useful information to fellow performers, but I don't intend to talk on the Internet anymore, no matter how much I hope others are listening. So if you were listening, thank you, but you can stop now. I suggest you take someone out to lunch instead, or join a chess club, or take a walk.
June, 12, 2008