Comments on: Does blogging increase your social life?

By: Chris M

Chris M — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:36:49 +0000

Hey Rox, missed your comment there for a second! A balance is definitely the way to go about doing things :)

By: Chris M

Chris M — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:28:35 +0000

That’s true SaulK, most of the people I meet online are completely different to who they are offline – definitely the case 80% of times.

Agreed Rustig!

By: Rustig

Rustig — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:46:22 +0000

Agreed! Real social life is offline. I had a blog but had to put it on ice for a while. I think it is a good thing to blog. It gives you your own little pedastall to stand on. I did it for fun and own satisfaction. Others may blog to be famous and celebraty status and “brag” about the hits. I enjoy reading the everyday persons blog just as much as the informative ones. Makes you realise there are people who share the same in the world.
Your own little place to blow of steam.

By: SaulK

SaulK — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:07:40 +0000

People are not necessarily the same in real life as they are online. If you can meet someone who is genuine in real life you might be able to increase your social life but a social life in my mind is offline.

By: Rox

Rox — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:49:54 +0000

I don’t know hey, I was thinking about the studies they’ve done which show that perhaps social media makes people LESS sociable.

Take any social media platform (not just FB), and see the quality of interaction between users. People tend to confuse the number of friends or contacts they have with the number of people they actually know for shit. And even the people you sorta know – when you chat online, do you really have the same level of understanding and connection as you do when you meet people in the offline world?

Perhaps if you can balance between the online and offline worlds, then it may open up a bit of a new social gap, but even then, often people only project a certain side to themselves, so I don’t know how solid that communication really is.

That said, I’ve managed to make a few connections through blogging, so it can be done I guess.

By: Chris M

Chris M — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:03:41 +0000

I agree with you Nick, nicely put! I know for me, in the local South African bloggisphere, it’s fairly easy to meet people through blogging as we have all sorts of events and meet ups, but all in all, blogging wouldn’t make someone more social..

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:00:47 +0000

Nice article. I’m not sure it has helped me socially. It’s certainly kept people in touch with me and that may be good. I see blogging the same way I see TV. It’s not the behaviour that it incites, but the behaviour that it (can) prevent (human beings talking face to face with each other, human beings spending less time in front of the computer and more time with each other…)

I am spending crazy amounts of time online when I could be talking to a real person. I’d rather be doing the latter.

By: Chris M

Chris M — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:05:07 +0000

Agreed Rustig, I must say, I think blogging is more for getting something out and then people might comment and only if you’re lucky, a conversation will start. The instant messaging and such is more ideal for socialising, although, the number of blogs around and the wide spread of information definitely increases the ease of acquiring information these days.

I agree about a good glass of wine and some food, there’s nothing like some proper face to face communication – my favourite!

By: Rustig

Rustig — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:01:13 +0000

Blogging is nice way of communicating, but it will never beat a good chit-chat over a glass of wine and good food. :)
Physical (real life) interaction is still the best. Humans are after all social animals that like to live in groups.