Blogging? Communication?

Just recently I stated blogging for an English class over winter quarter at The Ohio State University. The class required that I blog for a grade, something I had never done before in my life. I thought blogging was a pointless form of wasting time when someone was bored. At the beginning of the quarter I felt that blogging was pointless, and was just a way for someone to try and make money. But as time went by I began to realize that blogging was actually great.

Blogging for me, made me feel as though I was really getting to let my feelings about certain subjects just come out. It made me relax more, and more on the whole subject of expressing my opinion over the internet for all to read. It also allowed me to grow closer than normal to some of my classmates, after seeing how they felt about subjects and how I could relate to them. I ended up using blogging to take about issues I was having with game companies and it turns out that many people can and do feel the same way.

There are many purposes for using blogging as a communicative tool. Some people use blogging as a way to let off steam when they are made about something that had happened in a past period of time. Others use blogging to get talk about something like video games and if they were crap or good. I’ve even seen where some people go on blogging sites to get information or helpful answers to any kind of complication that they are facing.

Who reads blogs? Well that’s a great question about blogging. Everyone and anyone, from geeks to the president may read blogs for their own reasons. As stated earlier it could be for information, stress relief, what’s in style or not … and the list is endless for topics of the blogging world and who reads them. It could be a first time mom looking for advice on raising her child, and what she shouldn’t do to have a healthy child. Or a first time father who needs to know what to expect when the child is born.

Can or how do blogs affect our culture, our ideals, and our lives? Well,  in Douglas Rushkoff  "The Internet" he says that “The Internet is Not Killing 0ff Conversation but Actively Encouraging It.” Blogging affect’s our culture every day, even if we don’t want it to. People could be online right now, blogging about the next big invention for the future. Or just saying how their day went, but with everything the human mind gets to read, it can learn from. This allows culture or our ideas to change the lives of everyday people. Cultures are developed by communication and adaption, which is exactly what blogging can do. They allow even the most shy of people be able to keep going on with their lives by typing how they may feel.

Blogging is defiantly a great form of communication. It allows people to be who they are without embarrassment of doing thing in front of people.

Rushkoff,Douglas. "The Internet..." We've Got Blog. MA: Perseus Pub 2002. 116-118.