i thought that maybe i found a TED clip that could explain the importance of blogging...

but this is what i got.

if you can even sit through this clip, i think that you will find that it was just a long-winded way of saying, "people can get to know each other better, and that is good."

what about the negative impact of blogging? people become so increasingly focused on themselves that they can no longer see the benefit or detriment to people on a larger scale. Look at reality tv; sure, shows like "intervention" can be eye-opening, but what about the obscene amount of reality tv shows centered around the entertainment of cruelty and degredation? sure, we dont have to read your blog. we don't have to watch reality tv. but everyone gets sucked in at one point or another. "reality" is everywhere (go figure).

as much as Trott talks about "doing the blog for herself," you can see her light up when she gets to show off her daily picture of herself, or talk about how hot she thinks her husband is. its a whole lot of me me me, you, you, you, and not a lot of us us us. it almost appears that she can only entertain herself- no one seems to laugh at her jokes, and personally i feel really uncomfortable (in that "watching-forrest-gump" kind of way) when she makes a last ditch effort to save her joke by practically asking for people to laugh. honestly, i'm not trying to be petty and insult her sense of humor. i'm just pointing out that maybe blogging about yourself has the potential to delude you and reduces your ability to connect with other people... which she argues is the benefit of a blog in the first place. maybe she has become accustomed to laughing at her own jokes since she isn't actually making face-time with her readers to know if they even think the jokes are funny.

since i am tired, i wish someone could just lay it out for me. what are the pros, what are the cons, and although we really love to talk about ourselves, is it really worth the price? (this reminds me of a similar argument about religion, but i will save that for another day.) although she says blogging is good, she doesn't really provide any unique insight on the subject.

if the price of not having reality tv meant that our culture would be less obsessed with scrutinizing people in the cruelest and pettiest of ways, i would certainly prefer a world without it, wouldn't you?

"not to blog" - 1, "to blog" - 0.