Is blogging dead?

I was thinking about this topic the other day when I realised about this blog and the ever decreasing frequency that I'll post something onto it. It came to my attention that blogs in general of all genres have really gone downhill in terms of popularity, quality and frequency.

So is the art of blogging on the decline and infact, dead?

Warning - lots of words.

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Blogging was in its heyday back in 2006 when it started to become something of a well known and exciting tool (contextual note: Facebook was just being born around here). The idea of self publishing something of your own content without the need of making and/or building a website from scratch (which from experience is an incredibly laborious task in itself) was exciting. It was basically a shortcut to internet exposure. Facebook hit the mainstream around Autumn/Winter of 2006 and from then on the rest is history. Blogs and blog hosting sites existed hand in hand with Facebook for a good while but with the ever increasing size and power of Facebook it was only a matter of time it squeezed out other competition. One notable feature in particular in recent times was Facebook Pages - it really shot down and squeezed out blogs and the like. Not to say blogs are extinct altogether - I know a handful of very good blogs still pottering about but the point is that they're ceasing to exist. It's a combination of not only Internet Monopoly (I quite want to say Internet dictatorship, as it actually is one but it sounds too strong a word so I'll hold back this time) but also quite frankly, our own naivety to trust a sole company with all of our personal information, photos and details about every aspect of our life.

Facebook caters to all these different services for us at our convenience and we don't question it. The saying 'comfort leads to complacency' rings true here and in turn reflects our own attitudes and behaviours in a way we never have before in terms of socialising. We dumbed down big time, yo.

Now I'm an avid user of both Facebook and Twitter, there are numerous pros and cons to both which we could easily dive into but I want to look at the bigger picture. We're all too heavily reliant on these and other social networks for approval and validation, it may be a sign of the times that we as a species are becoming more selfish, self centred and generally self functioning. In the film Wall-E, remember the obese motorised humans in that? It's quite apt and honestly something you can see happening for real.

I'll use some metaphors now! Do you rely on just one friend who takes up all of your time? No, of course you don't - you have lots of friends for different needs! Do you buy all your food and drink from one shop? No! Do you use the same shoes for every occasion? Don't be silly! Same rules apply here for internet.

Another stigma with Facebook is that if you're not on it, there's something wrong with you. People who aren't on Facebook are usually too old for technology and that's fair enough, but the majority of people who aren't on Facebook are (from my experience) more likely to be intelligent. Most people assume it's weird to be different as it is, not having a Facebook applies too. You assume individuals are weird axe murderers or trying to hide something if they don't have an online profile showcasing drunken photos and Farmville.
I like to compare this to Plato's allegory/Neo's awakening in The Matrix - it's that moment of self realisation that you've been watching the shadows on the wall and have been quite content with this - this is what drives people away from Facebook and quite frankly that's a very valid reason.

In many ways blogging isn't dead, it's just evolved. As technology evolves with the times, iPhone's getting bigger etc, blogging takes a new shape too. If you consider blogging is defined as a website that is regularly updated and written with an informal and conservational style - that's exactly what a lot of websites and social networks are like these days. Blogging has been absorbed like a blob into other elements. Blobbing.

A very good friend of mine once described the difference between science/technology and the arts. It's to do with their 'end goals'. Imagine science/technology shaped like a pyramid - it's striving to one point, a cure, better efficiency, an answer etc. That's the top of the pyramid, the end goal.
Now, the arts is similar but its an upside down shaped pyramid instead. The answers and ideas expand the higher you go and branch out further. An answer leads to another question. It's not to say that science doesn't expand in answers the deeper you get, but their end goal is clearly a lot more black and white. So in theory, has the internet become more of a technological business model than a creative one? Or both? Or the other way round?

The point I'm drilling home is we all need to stop being so dependant on social media (He says, as he's about to post this on Facebook - oh you hypocrite Jamie!). If you keep looking at a screen all day you miss the mystery of life. Go and get lost, you may find yourself.

TTFN