Thursday, October 2, 2008

Is Blogging An Excercise in Narcissism?


"Everything is about our efforts to be significant. We slap hundreds of pictures up about ourselves and want people to come and look. We post a bazillion facts about ourselves and we want people to come and look. We post thousands of inane stories about ourselves and we want people to come and look... We write blogs for a year or so and suddenly believe that we are Faulkner."

This is a statement I read on a good friend's blog recently. It really did a number on my head. I felt guilty about my blog posts. I actually have several blogs saved in draft form that I haven't published yet because I kept thinking "My word, that is inane!" It made me ponder why I enjoy writing this blog. Geez, is it an effort to be significant? Gosh, are my posts inane? So do I think I'm Faulkner? To quote Pooh..."..think, think think..." Uh, um...well, I do not think it is to establish self significance. That isn't on my mind at all when I write. It is just simply one little page in cyberspace where I try my hand at writing. I enjoy it.I write about what's on my mind. Whether or not anyone "comes and looks" is really not important. If people stop in and read my posts, great. If not, I'm still going to write out of enjoyment anyway. Yes, my posts are inane. So? Who cares? We need inane sometimes. I like inane. I love reading other inane blogs. It's like a little window into people's lives. I feel a sense of social connection. There's a common denominator between bloggers, which is the hobby of writing little posts. Do I "believe I'm Faulkner"? In a word, no. I'm just a girl who likes to write little inane blog posts in hopes that it will serve as a momentary bit of thought food for those that like to read blogs. That's all. Nothing psychologically sinister or narcissistic about it...Shoo. I feel better now. Stay tuned for more picture slappin', a bazillion and one more facts, and less than Faulkner quality inane posts. Come and look, if you please...or don't. My significance doesn't hang in the balance.


2 comments:

Super Churchlady said...

The post you're talking about gave me pause, too - but I'd be really sad if you didn't blog. I love your blog. I love seeing the little bit of the inside of your mind and how you view things and what's important to you. It's quite entertaining and in my opinion, much more so that a lot of the crap out there that we are supposed to consider "literature." So...you just keep those posts a comin'.

Bethany said...

It reminds me of the whole Christmas card/letter debate - I like Christmas cards and letters...i don't think they are narcassistic either. I love my blogger friends and I get way more joy out of reading your blogs than writing mine...ha!