In 2005, I started a blog and haven’t stopped writing. Sometimes the writing comes freely, and other times I feel like Luke Skywalker’s family mining for water on the desert planet of Tatooine. Let me confess something. I’d rather not write this post. But I do so in defiance. Celebration is a discipline, after all. Birthdays, however embarrassing, matter. Every trip around the sun is a gift from God. Therefore, every post or article I write should reflect living in this moment and celebrating who and what got me to it. So, with that, I am celebrating twenty years of blogging!
We were all equals on the Internet, if for only a moment.
The online world has become a vast universe to navigate, but it wasn’t always this way. With AI content and bots farms trolling on social media sites, the better parts of humanity exists obscured by the worst parts of humanity. But back in the OG-days of blogging, we saw and were seen in a way we cannot even imagine today. It was powerful to dialog with a big-cat CEO on Twitter, experiencing interactions with people who previously lived behind hardened gates. We were, but for a few moments, all equal. Now, we fight algorithms to even see our family on our social media platforms.
My point is this. It used to be super amazing to be online. Now, what once was an equalizing community has turned into an addiction to scalable attention-grabbing power. Al things are binary. You are red or blue. There is no gray, no blur, no nuance. Gore dwarfs any friendly friction faced online. One friend of mine who became very popular online, perfectly set himself up to live on this newer platform. He once said to me, “Rich, I want my blog to be a train wreck so people can’t look away.” So, while some of us debated our personal and professional thoughts, he added videos of his cut thumb. Reality TV was bound to reach the blogosphere rather rapidly. Our media consumption has always matched human nature in this regard. Sensational content turns our necks! But at what cost?
I experienced real-life friendship, exciting places and surprising hope.
What and whom do I celebrate? There was a time when fellow blogger friends prayed for me while I waited for a possible cancer diagnosis. I didn’t overtly post about it, but friends showed up for me. Can an online community be real? Relationships among bloggers grew from online chats to in-person friendships. Over the years we found each other at conferences and coffeehouse meetups. When major life events were in play, people whom I had never met reached out to offer thoughts and prayers. One of these was the mother of my blog friend, Ben. From her computer in volatile Gaza, while working serving Palestinians, she offered an encouraging letter with prayers for my health. Good news arrived in two parts. First, I didn’t have cancer. Second, I had many people praying for me.
I also celebrate places. My first trip across the world came through blogging, or because of it. My friend Dan, a non-profit leader, invited me to come to Africa and learn about what they were doing in Ethiopia. I brought a microphone and my iPhone 5 to document videos and interviews of their humanitarian work. Did you know you could post online from the jungle back in 2010? Ethiopia has amazing cell phone coverage. As I entered hospitable huts and warmed beside campfires full of songs, I realized the online world carried me somewhere magical, compelling me to share what I saw with others. The world can grow smaller. And even with the dark sight of babies struggling with AIDS, hope was in view, too.
Real people are on the other side of our screens!
Thank you for being a part of the journey. On Substack, I feel like this post is a return to my Typepad, LiveJournal, or Blogspot days. Why? I still believe that there is a real person on the other side of my laptop screen. Because I have discovered the positive from the past, I hope we go beyond more volume in the echo chamber and discover dialog that forms connections, even friendships. Those benefits have fueled twenty years of blogging, social media, and two books. Together, let’s see what happens next.
Keep growing, and keep creating!
PS. Just for old-school charm, why not add a comment!?