Blogs ... do they create isolation?

If someone is that compulsive, they’ll find some way to express it. I don’t think the internet (and technology) create issues, they merely create a platform for expressing them.

blogs are boring yes,they really are.

I agree with @syz, but I think it goes a step further. Much like we in our evolution have largely supplanted fruit borne sugars with ever more distilled versions of sweetness, an online life offers accelerated breadth of experience and opinion that might come in smaller quantity and at greater expense IRL—not that there’s anything new under the sun for those of us who have turned to books, movies and other story forms for escape from our current condition.

The woman on house did. But lots of people invest time and energy on many things when they should be paying attention to real (other) people and real (other parts of their) life. Whether it is sports, porn, exercise, relationships with the wrong people, or millions of other things.

It is anyones individual choice whether they use the internet to hide from real life or enhance real life.

People make their own choices on how to conduct themselves in the world. It’s not the fault of the internet.

The secret to a long and happy life is moderation. Yes, I am working on it!!

Wow .. I gues people take this very literally? Or is it that well all are here often and feel we need to defend out choice?

It was only a TV show, and not a very good one. I am surprised that anyone watches House anymore.

@davidbetterman I think the point was the woman using the net as a way of reflecting on life getting feedback on her life, much like fluther. I doubt whether sleepdoc was worried about House being a great program.

Yes.

Pffft. I wish I could get comments on my site.

Are we investing time on the internet and sometimes neglecting our real life and real people?

You betchum, red rider. I know specifically of two cases, and I’ve heard of others, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a lot more than that. The internet makes it easy to connect, especially for the depressed. I don’t know if there is any data, but I would not be at all surprised if the portion of people on social websites who are depressed is much higher than the portion in the general society.

I think it is like an addiction. It is hard to stay away, sometimes even impossible. It provides a little happiness rush. It won’t be long before its in the DSM.

@wundayatta I find it very hard to connect with people on the net.

No, many blogs provide links to others that you neve thought existed.

Blogging gives other people permission to crawl around in your head. In many ways, you don’t have the barriers online that you have with people in RL, from past relationship issues, judgment of others, abusive communication style. How people judge and respond to you is based upon, for most people, getting a full thought out without being interrupted.

In a perfect world, with a perfect partner, who takes your needs and shortcomings into consideration as well as your own, then yes, spending too much time online can hinder development in real space. But for people dealing with emotional damage or emotional isolation, it’s a way to let people in without having to let your defenses down.

My question is what would a person have to blog about if they only spent time blogging? You have to do something to be able to write about it. I love my blog and blog contacts, because we share all the things we are doing and feeling. I have met most of my blog contacts in person, so it’s not quite like a bunch of strangers.

I think blogging can be taken to an extreme (like in that House episode). There was also a story a while back about a women who was tweeting while (or immediately around the time) her son was drowning. She tweeted things about finding him in the pool and about the emergency workers being there. While in itself it’s not a bad thing, if taken to an extreme, it can have a negative effect, like isolation.