why do i blog?

last weekend, my blog came up in a random conversation with friends. people were curious about why I blog. I don't think people quite get it. I guess blogging as a concept has kinda fallen out of public parlance, replaced by social media - which most people seem to think is the best way to broadcast to people who care (or maybe even people who don't!).

my blog occupies a small but specific niche in terms of communication: it's obviously absolutely public, searchable, indexed, cached by google etc, so an entirely public record of what I've chosen to say. it's also very clearly linked to my identity, so indusputably me, and also not bound by any platform or website's terms of use, so practically impossible to take down - I'm guessing/hoping it will outlast my facebook and twitter profiles!

it serves another useful purpose though. in a world dominated by clickbait, algorithms, quick punchy content, this is a space for long form old-fashioned text. a space to speak my mind about things that the algorithms that govern most platforms won't consdier worthy of attention.

also, in a weird way, the lack of metrics (OK, I do have google analytics, but I don't open it unless I'm informed there's a problem!) means I'm encouraged to not care about how well my "content" is doing - which encourages me to be "me".

ps: the blog turned 19 last month, and I didn't even realize it until I did the mental math during that conversation!

pps: I decided it's time I update the 18 year old photo in the upper right corner! long overdue, eh?