There are so many personal blogs out there that seem like aimless rabbles about peoples lives. We have all been to them and usually we just click and move on to the next one occasionally one article will catch our interest and we pause and read for a few minutes. Even more rarely we find a few articles that catch our interest and then we might make the blog a regular stopping place on our nightly websurf. Then there are the places that we might even link to our blog. Why ? I have heard people accuse bloggers of being social outcasts only capable of connecting socially from the safety of their desk chairs. Some say bloggers are elitists that distain social interaction for self conceited ranting. I don’t know but to me it is just another avenue of social interaction. I suspect there are some that need that safety, and that power, that allows them to disregard all but their blogging community, but most bloggers I know find that the time it takes to interact online (via the hundreds of comments we make online every year) gives us the time to be introspective in our replies to focus our thoughts and make a coherent and logical response (not all the time though) or a clearer statement of our thoughts not entertain some narcissistic tendency. Blogging to me makes small talk, which most blogging is, into something a bit more meaningful. Not that the interaction between bloggers is better than face to face conversations, a life of online interaction is as it has been called virtual reality. Blogging just expands our social interaction and often allows us to include other social groups into our lives.
I now have four Blogs, and thus four different communities of interaction. I did this because I wanted to walk in different circles of interest which is something we can’t easily do in real life. For example I like to listen to grunge music, but my conservative looking 40 something appearance does not fit into a grunge club. The first thing people are going to think reading this is that I am living a multiple personality life online. Nope, in each world I am as honest as I can be. I am however not as revealing as I might be in each Blog. What blogging does is allow us to get beyond first impressions. I suspect that rather than bloggers being social outcasts they are even more social than most. We may aimlessly ramble on about our lives or our opinions and we may spend a few more hours in front of our computers than most but, I think rather than being geeks and outcasts we are simply diversifying the way we interact with the world.
What Was I Trying To Say ? 
bill, I think I have some interesting news for you. At least when I ran across it last week-end the revelation became an eye-opener for me! You (and I, and Stephen, etc.,) are not geeks or outcasts. We are “Scanners”. If you haven’t run across the term yet, read this short explanation taken from the book “Refuse to Choose”, by Barbera Sher.
I know I’m not a “Diver”, so the only thing that leaves is to be some form of “Scanner”. And according to the author, that’s OK even if common knowledge holds otherwise.
After you’ve looked it over let me know what you think! I know I’m certainly feeling better about myself.
Cheers
I don’t think I qualify as a Geek, since my technological knowledge is rudimentary.
But — unlike Bill — my social life is somewhat stunted, I regret to say! So maybe I’m a Diver, though I’m not sure precisely what the term means.
In any event, I get to debate significant ideas in the blogosphere. I’d rather do it over a pint in a pub somewhere, for sure! But I see no need to apologize for engaging people in dialogue in any forum that presents the opportunity to do so.
I had a look at 49er’s link, and I guess I’m a Diver to some extent: happy being completely absorbed by one field. I do like to drill down into the details, particularly in theology.
But anyone who reads Outside the Box will know that I’m also interested in numerous other subjects — one of the reasons why I got bored with Toward Jerusalem.
I’m part Diver and part Dabbler, I guess!