3 Years of Blogging

I bit of reflection for a Friday evening.

When I first started writing this blog I was still in my thirties – three years later I am into my forties and still writing.

I know lots of people who have started blogging and stalled, or crashed altogether, but something keeps me going. I’ve often wondered what that “something” is, actually I think that it’s “somethings”.

Probably the single biggest reason is that I enjoy it. Sometimes the reason doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that, but there is more. I regard it as a privileged that people actually read what I write. I get very little interaction directly on my blog, what I do get are people commenting to me when I meet them and sideline conversations that have been prompted by something I’ve written. That feedback cycle is quite edifying and gives me an encouraging lift.

This is post number 631, which isn’t the thousands that I see other write, but it is roughly 1 every working day which is actually amazing.

Writing about things helps to develop the thoughts around a subject, I’ve particularly found this in the My Brain series of posts, where a little reading got me thinking about something which then urged me on to read some more. Reading a bit, writing a bit, cemented the thinking. I started with a couple of big questions; while pondering them I asked and answered other questions. It’s growth and growth is good. Those with agile brains will be the ones of value in years to come, not to mention the ones who have a happy and fulfilling retirement.

I’ve recently been really enjoying thinking about the tools that I use and why I use them. I have a friend whose garage is immaculate, the tools all have their place and only depart from it when they are being used. I have a few boxes in my garage where my assortment of tools lurk in wonderful randomness. My IT tools are similar, I collect them, use them, leave them lying around. They wait, lurking on hard disks all over the place. Writing about why I use the ones that I use is actually helping me to sort them out a bit.

There is another theme that I think about quite a bit, it’s kind of links the brain theme with the tools theme. I am concerned that the tools and working environment that we are currently exposing ourselves too might actually be as dangerous as the ones that other heavier industry exposed our fathers too. I don’t mean that there is a disease like asbestosis lying undiscovered out there, what concerns me is what we are doing to our brains. I’m think of conditions like ADT, and Deindividuation, we don’t really know that much about the long term impact of high IT use. My son has finished school (already) after completing his GCSE’s. Some of his friends are really proud of the amount of time that they have been spending on WoW. One of them is playing so late into the night that he is almost nocturnal. He’s in danger of working his body clock all the way around until he’s back on the right time. These are brains that are going through rapid development and very susceptable. Are we really sure that this is not doing them irreparable harm?

On a lighter note, I also really enjoyed the company of Jimmy and Grandad. It started as a bit of fun, and has continued that way. Emily (who take many of the pictures) and I have had some strange looks from people as we have exposed them to the delights of these two fellows and the rest of the family.

It’s now Friday evening and time for me to go into the garden and remove some weeds. Gardens are definitely good for the brain.