For Those Who Think Blogging is a Waste of Time...

I used to think that blogging is a waste of time. Two years ago, I reckoned that blogs exist for teenagers with angst or attention-seeker to get the attention they crave for. Or it provides a platform for something as serious as independent journalism like Jeff Ooi’s blog, where he lives up to the motto of “thinking allowed, thinking aloud”, exposing the flaws of the policy setters, highlighting world news and bringing salient points to the attention of the general public. They have got their own reasons to blog, and I agreed.

But should everyone blog too? Yea yea yea, I know you are going to say, “It’s a very personal choice”; but the question here is, does everyone have a reason to blog?

I started out this blog due to kiasuism , following the trend without a clear idea of what I was going to do with the weblog. As such, this blog has since been neglected for the next one and a half year until I finally rediscovered it and redeveloped it into the state it is today.

Since I first started the blog, the blogosphere has evolved quite a lot... You can subscribe to blogs so that you receive instant notification about each update (subscribe to mine), and everyone can create their own blogs effortlessly with blogspot, MSN space and so on. Things have changed, and so does the purpose of blogging.

Today, most people who are acquainted with the Internet either have their own blog, or are planning to have one. My friends use their blogs to tell their stories and to share their feelings. I remember when I bid farewell to Alvin in KLIA in February, we promised each other that we would always post in blog to keep each other updated. He has since updated his blog less frequently than he watches anime and goes to the city with his friends, which I perfectly understand as part of his personality and interest. Some friends like Zhe Jin, on the other hand, shared nice poems and lyrics which struck a chord in her. Some friends like Jing Yi preferred to write in chinese language while friends like Eric Fu and Michelle Chong write in good English. Some talked about their life in a secondary school while some write good account about university life in Wellington and Singapore. Some bloggers update their blog rather frequently, while some only update their blog once in a few weeks. A few blogs started rather long ago, while some friends like Jasmine Yow started as recent as a few weeks ago.

But behind all these blogger’s words and pictures, there are purposes for blogging. You can see blogging as rather time-consuming; but then again, people do spend time telling their story at one time or another, online or offline. Blogging has become more and more popular, and the only way we are going to live with it is to read it, write it and reflect it along with the author. And perhaps, we shall one day learn that, aptly put in Jasmine‘s words,

...we all need a place to express our feelings and thoughts.

(Yow, 2005)