Blogging Has Stopped Change

Over at Ripples this morning David St Lawrence wrote that blogging offers us a voice within our communities; a place to speak up, be heard, engage in conversation and form new relationships based on ideas and interest. I so much agree with David and while thinking about his words I wondered if blogging is creating change or stopping a change that was in progress.

I think blogging will stop a change in our social structure that has been going awry for centuries.

“Change” in society happens when we have to adjust our lives and our thinking to accommodate new truths whether we like or not. One of the changes that has been going on with increased velocity has been accepting our smaller and smaller individual footprint in the world we’ve come to know. The human drive for more-better-faster has brought the world to my doorstep and I will know the details of things in Siberia before hearing about what happened at a neighbors house two doors down.

When our communities were small and geography was still a physical information buffer our individual voice could be large. Now the din of voices is so great we have a hard time concentrating on the voice we can barely hear right in front of us.

The adjustment we’ve been making because of the din has been to become silent. We’ve been speaking up less and less anticipating we won’t be heard anyway. We were becoming mute observers.

Blogging is anti-change. We have a voice again. Like orators in an old-world city market we can stand on our box and say what we want to say. Sometimes the passerby will stop and listen, discuss your words, and maybe even join you in being heard. Most important though is our feeling of “self” that comes from believing we are heard.

Once again we are part of a community of a size and scope we can comprehend. Blogging rewards us for thinking and speaking; it has re-engaged us in building and growing; it allows us to feel big again.