I have enjoyed 2008, and as I have reflected on why, I have come to the conclusion that part of the reason for my enjoyment is an increased appreciation of the internet.
Some of you, like me, may be able to remember the early days when going online was expensive and extremely slow, and you only tolerated the screeches from the modem because you had told yourself that you really needed to get some information. In those days going online meant three things: long, failed attempts at trying to find out ‘essential’ bits of information, sending the odd email, and increased blood-pressure. Looking back over 2008 I have realized that this was the year that my internet experience really did take on a whole new dimension.
Of course, I still do some of the old things. Following a fairly serious medical scare I had after Easter, my wife has been to every site under the sun associated with the recovery from my particular problem and was able to look at pictures at what they were going to do to me before I went into hospital. (I didn’t find that particularly helpful, but she did.) And the ability to send and receive email has become so important to me that if ever I lose a connection, it feels like I have lost some speech and hearing. Now that my mobile phone handles messaging with ease and grace, email goes with me everywhere and speaks to me every 15 minutes - it has almost grafted itself into my body.
However, what has really blossomed in the past year is my appreciation of the social aspect of the internet. I don’t want to over-play this, but I do genuinely feel part of a few online communities, and although the contact may be shallow and superficial on one level, on an other level there is a real sense of ‘friendship’ and an occasional sense of care. In some ways it is no different to off-line communities with various levels of intimacy and involvement - though of course, meeting real people off-line usually fosters greater bonds or destroys existing bonds more quickly. And the extra information gained from reality enables more genuine trust to be established.
Although I have joined Facebook this year, I confess that I still don’t really ‘get it’. I contribute several postings to it because my posts to other sites are automatically fed into Facebook (in that sense, it is a useful collecting point). However, I find it awkward and confusing, and apart from enabling relatives to share holiday snaps with me it hasn’t yet done a lot for me. I think part of the problem is that some people sensibly restrict access to their information making it hard to find friends. And some of the friends I have wanted to find from earlier in my life have been impossible to track down because hundreds of people share the same name. Perhaps I will understand it more as the year progresses.
Despite my Facebook failure, the three activities which have unquestionably enriched my life this year have been Blogging, Flickring, and Twittering.
Blogging has done at least four things for me. First, It has enabled me to give voice to some of my passions and concerns, and occasionally enabled me to disclose an important inner world that I wanted to record somewhere. I have no illusions about a readership of double figures, but it is important to me to know that some things are written down somewhere. (Interestingly writing about my father’s death and recording it online seemed, to me at least, a more important memorial than a headstone.)
Secondly, I enjoy writing, and blogging occasionally gives me a sense of satisfaction (however self-indulgent).
Thirdly, I have learned ’stuff’ that has been interesting that I would never have expected. This year the blogs I read have given me a real glimpse into the importance of religion in American politics and of the difficulties of being an atheist in the ‘land of the free’ as well as providing windows into the inner worlds of people from around the world just sharing the richness of their humanity. And of course, the act of writing has enabled me to learn things for myself. I used to say that teaching a topic helps you understand it. Now I know that wanting to write about something forces you to make sense of it in your own mind first (usually).
Fourthly, there is a sense of community from bloggers. We read each other’s work. We leave comments. We ask questions. We show appreciation. We challenge and disagree. Ok, there are some cranks out there (as well as just plain rude and awkward people), but by and large, we regularly ’speak’ to each other, and over time, understand each other better, and respect each other. Years ago, I never imagined that the internet would ever bring that community into my home.
Similar points could be made about the other two sites. Flickr has enabled me to find another ‘voice’ or at least a gallery for my work. I no longer have to beg my wife to look at my photographs. I can publish them on Flickr and know that there is a chance that someone might see them. And two surprising things have happened.
First, over the year, thousands of people have looked at my photos and left comments. Even if I had begged every family member to look at them I could never have achieved that level of exposure or comment. But secondly, there is also a strong sense of community. Many users regularly look at the work of a few friends, express appreciation and criticism of it, and receive feedback in return. Flickr has brought a world-wide camera club into my living room.
For me, Twitter has been the knock-out surprise of the year. I put my toes into the water skeptically at first and now am a card-carrying convert. The various applications for using it on your phone (Twinkle, Tweetie, GPSTwit, Twitterfon), or from desktop (TweetDeck) or from web pages (BigTweet) enable you to share anything with a community that you create - pictures, newsfeeds, GPS locations, and above all, free instant messages, reflecting your life at that moment. Yes, I know, it sounds totally bonkers, but for me, it has delivered two things. First, there is a sense of fun. I find it easier to be flippant and light- hearted in an instant message format than in a blog. (It’s good to play sometimes!) Secondly, there is again, a sense of community - in some ways more intimate than in the other spheres because of the immediacy of the medium. I’ve already had one tweet-up (a social meeting of other local twitterers). Twitter isn’t really about the internet doing anything serious other than enabling human beings to be sociable in a different medium to what has previously been available.
I’m taking a break from blogging for a few days over the Christmas period - yes I do have a real life. As I look forward to 2009 I know that my internet experience will grow in ways that I haven’t yet anticipated.
However, I am confident that three things which have crossed my radar in the past month will become more useful to me. I will be listening to more free music and discovering more artists using the wonderful Last.fm. I will be using my computer to watch more television on TVCatchup.com. And when major news stories break, I will be reading unfiltered and unverified first reactions and possibly details on Twitter using Monitter.com.
What has been your best internet experience/discovery of 2008?
Have a good Christmas. And thanks for reading.
Yes, I agree a lot with your comments.
Twitter has been my highlight of the year, mainly due to my purchase of an iPhone. Until then I wasn’t at a PC long enough to make it work for me, but now with the internet in my pocket a number of things changed.
FriendFeed was my first big find and although I still use it a little it didn’t click fully with me. Unlike Twitter. Using my iPhone and Twinkle I really fell for it in a big way. I find I am using it a lot and the discovery of TweetDeck for use on my Netbook really cemented Twitter in my life.
Blogging is fun but for a number of reasons I am not doing it enough. The reasons are excuses really and I need to understand them better.
Finally the social aspect. Yes, a big part of the internet experience for me now. Twitter rules. Facebook is also pretty big, especially after finding a number of old friends on there who I hadn’t spoken to for a long time. Both have helped me to find new and old people to ‘talk’ to again which is something I have really needed to do.
Thanks for the blog post. Again you have pointed me towards some useful sites and I will be investigating them closely.
Yes, your experience mirrors mine almost exactly. The only real difference is my lack of interest in photos hence I have never tried Flickr.
I love blogging - both in terms of writing and reading. Your blog has often got me thinking about things I would never have thought about otherwise which is always good for the brain and the soul.
And yes, like you Twitter has surprised me too. Sometimes it really cheers me up when I am having a bad day and provides the sort of company I used to get when I worked in an office - but with the added benefit that I can walk away from it whenever I want without offending anyone. Love it!
Facebook baffles me too. It must be to do with the format and the way it works, rather than the people I have on there since I have fewer friends on Twitter and yet that works well.
Anyway, I am waffling as usual. That is another area where Twitter is good for me - the character limit stops me warbling on.
Have a lovely Christmas and a happy new year. Although maybe you will be hanging around on Twitter for a bit yet???
acetuk
Thanks for your comments.
I agree about the importance of the iPhone. The free applications have made using Twitter so much easier and attractive. It will be interesting to watch the Twitterverse grow as the boundaries between desktop, laptop, and phone merge into a more common, attractive, online experience.
Reluctant Blogger
. And I am glad to know that I am not the only one who is baffled and irritated sometimes by the complications of Facebook.
It was a link on your blog that first got me into Twitter, so you have a lot to answer for
I thought your point about Twitter providing some socialization for homeworkers interesting. I hadn’t thought of it like that. I agree though, the power to be able to walk away is good - though when you get your iPhone, the myriad of free Twitter applications for the iPhone will make the walking away slightly more strenuous
I might be easing off blogging over Christmas, but I will continue to carry Twitter with me everywhere I go on my phone. Suspending blogging? Definite possibility. Giving up Twitter? Get real!!!!!
I haven’t tried Twitter. I had a photo blog going for awhile, but events over the past year or so caused me to turn my attention away from that and toward An Apostate’s Chapel. The Chapel has given me a place in the blogging community that I really enjoy. As you noted, many of the connections are rather superficial, but a few of them have, for me, become quite a lot deeper. I’ve really appreciated and enjoyed that.
So, for me, 2008 was a year in which blogging created an outlet for my ideas and a community with which to share them. Not a bad development at all, in my opinion.
How I have enjoyed reading this. I am so itching to be back here writing again and I do miss it.
Because my whole energies have to be focused on other things and studies-which have totally collapsed and lagging, I have had to put the internet pen down and just concentrate on what I can.
The internet has enriched my life in all the ways you describe.
A main criticism of me being here from loved ones is that it can detract from the real world and take you away from the important things, like housework and other tasks:-)
I have also been told off by a close relative as I was anxious to test my internet capability by phone and told it was very un-sociable and I was becoming obessed with the whole on-line deal. Anyway, there you go!
The best for me.
I think twitter has meant I have met new friends and flickr because that is where it all started.
What an incredible world. As I write I feel my veins come alive with the excitement and the passion.
Great Blog and look foreward to reading it in 2009.
Have a great xmas.
Blogging gives me the only community I have at this point in my life, and it is, therefore, extremely important.
I think myself extremely privileged to be part of your e-community. I enjoy your posts and appreciate the comments you leave on my blog.
Thank you, and Happy Holidays!
the chaplain
Thanks for your blog. It has been really interesting to read it during the past year and get an inside view of America during the election. I value your insight.
onethoughtfulwoman
I am glad that you are learning and enjoying and that the technological experience in breaking down barriers and promoting real growth for you.
Lorena
You write with conviction and passion and have helped me not just ‘know’, but ‘appreciate’ things from a different perspective.
Hi You have a very interesting blog, I will have to come back and have a good old read.
As you know I am on Twitter, which sometimes, is good, especially in the last few days when I have been in bed with the flu…but I don’t twitter from my phone..
I am also on Facebook, which to be honest I don’t really get, but a few of my friends are also bloggers and readers of my blog from other parts of the world.
I am really pleased you have found somewhere to promote your photography..Flickr..I set that up ages ago,but don’t really use it..none of my family look at the photos…in fact none of my family look at or read my blog,. I have tried to get my brother interested, he just questions it. Like “why do I blog”….or “what is the point”, “who looks at your blog” “how do they find you”….I have been trying to explain for the last year or so..I give up..
I find Last.fm interesting and TVcatchup a good idea….maybe it will come to me one day..:-)
anne
Hi Anne. Good to meet you in a different place. Thanks for dropping by. I have added your blog to my Google Reader and look forward to following your posts.
I have come to the conclusion that blogging/twittering/flickring is a bit like Marmite in dividing the human race into two - those that get it (but are not quite sure why), and those that definitely don’t get it (and are mystified by the peculiarities of others). Perhaps it’s something to do with potty-training, or the water? Whatever it is, let’s continue to appreciate being born on the right side of the fence