I Can Has Soshul Networkz!

Something I've observed that concerns me: Privacy has dramatically changed since even a few years ago. People are posting intimate details about their emotions, personal events and location, broadcasted for the world to see. I have seen inappropriate posts more than once, and I have on rare occasions stepped in to remind the original poster about the public nature of their posts.

Also, those who are wiser about what they post are increasingly forced to turn to other means to post more personal messages. I really want to go into anonymous details, but once again, privacy foils me. With my current, tiny, circle of friends, any details at all would certainly identify the persons in question. Tell me in your comments if you are willing to be identified about your efforts to maintain your privacy. Still, regardless of reach, there seems to be a driving need to share, even if it is only to yourself.

From my personal experience, it seems that the newer social networks like Twitter are more focused, and in turn more read (and replied) by the people that matter to you than other media such as Facebook. People jump on each bandwagon, only to jump off when too many people are with them. Is this a common occurrence?

When will this race end? What is the next medium for our personal messages? Is the answer in the traditional one-on-one sharing? Or will there ever be a selective broadcast of posts? Is that , in turn, against the spirit of online social networks?

This merits observation.

Of course, there are the people who don't care, who spam Facebook with emo, cryptic messages. I especially am annoyed by the cryptic messages. Everyone's emo at sometime or another, but at least be emo in a coherent way! This article and this comic (warning, contains mildly offensive language) is pretty representative of my "annoyedness". Please, if I am guilty of any of these, gently remind me with the sharp end of a stick.

Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk?

Suddenly have a renewed interest in blogging. Don't really have the time to blog now though.

I think it's ok if just me reading it. I think that blogging in this phase of my life will be one of personal growth. I used to want people to read, and I think I still do now, but it won't drive...

Busy! Finish later.

Back! After 6 days, hehe. Yeah. As I was typing, wanting people to read won't be a primary motivation for me. Correspondingly, what I type here will may sometimes not be catered to a reading audience. The following post is though. Do leave comments! I still maintain my stance that there are certain things that I will not post, and as to what exactly, I will leave it up to my discretion.

Blogging seems to draw up the best and worst of me. When I'm feeling down, the post forces my troubles to the foreground, magnifying those dreadful feelings. There are so many of those posts here. When I'm feeling up, it gives my imagination and writing skills full reign to create something that I feel good about.

Having a good Monday so far. Every day that I wake up on time is a manifestation of God's grace. I'm learning to lean on God more and more, even as I relinquish my dependence on other people. I've been listening to "Stay With You" and "I Need You", both from CHC's Breakaway album. I think the songs really reflects this phase in my life. I'm waiting on God, spending the time to seek the full measure of the presence of God. I'm leaning on God, emotionally letting go, and letting God.

There Is A Wait So Long

How're you doing Rachel? I was about to post something about myself, but you haven't said anything since I gave you life. How was your day? What is it like, living in me? Are you comfortable in there? I could imagine a bigger room for you. Is it too cold? I hope that my heart still pumps warm blood, that it has not hardened to icy stone.

Where are you? I cannot see your brown eyes, I cannot hear your laughter, I cannot hold your hand. I cannot smell your lilac shampoo, I cannot taste your blueberry waffles.

I want but am unqualified. So again, I sleep alone tonight.

Click Your Heels Together Three Times And Say...

A good friend recently reminded me about the existence of my blog. Looking at my blogroll, so many of them have seen months, even years from their last post. I think that, for many, blogging was a phase in our life, something that we grow out of. There was need to express, and the free time. Perfect storm, daily blog posts, active "shoutboxes", an endless stream of commentators.

When people grow older, they ruminate more than they spit. The need for blogs drop, because people are used to thinking through their thoughts rather than just spitting out their feelings. This drop in need is greatly exacerbated by the instantaneous nature of Facebook and Twitter, allowing to those with a higher need of expression an outlet that allows for immediate feedback to their emotions through the comment and "like" button.

Another factor of the drop in blogging would be the lack of time. When we were young, we slept at 2 a.m everyday, spending endless hours randomly surfing blogs and writing our own blog posts. A random check of Jermaine's blog shows that 3 out of the 5 posts on the front page were written at after 1 a.m. She simply does not have the luxury of time to post so late and so often, or about every week or so. (based on a random check of September 2009).

Most of all, she does not have the time to endlessly surf her friends' blog, the other side of the blogging coin. Facebook has poached most of the bloggers with the lure of a consolidation of everyone's posts into one coherent stream. I myself have never had the problem as I adopted RSS about the same time as blogging. The RSS reader allows me to read posts as they come in through the way of an automatic reader, or "web-spider", as we call them, going through all of my blogs and extracting new contents. I cannot imagine the time I would have spent going through blogs that might not have been updated, or missing posts that have been posted in quick succession.

This fad of blogging has long been over. The ones who stay are the dedicated, those who have something to share, willing to compose their thoughts coherently and present it in an engaging way. Among my 20 friends whom I follow, one one still maintains his blog, and only about once a month or so.

That said, posts from my RSS feed reader (Google Reader) that I go through everyday are still from blogs. My intellectual thirst is slaked by meaty articles that causes one to think, useful diagrams to help one visualise information. This cannot be achieved through 140 characters, or in a Facebook status update or a short blurb in Tumblr.

And that's all my attention span will allow me today. Bye Rachel!

P.S Am I one of the dedicated? Time will tell...

P.P.S No, I don't have a girlfriend yet. I named my blog Rachel. Hopeful thinking, maybe. ;)