Jun 16 2011
The joys of reading in a hyper-inter-active world
I realized again today why I enjoy reading so much; or one of the many reasons. It is because it is easy for me to focus and lose myself in the book.
In much of my life I can’t seem to focus and really engage one thing and one thing only. At work there is email, phone, coworkers, even staring out the window. And of course, it takes discipline not to constantly glance at your smartphone to check personal email or twitter or one of a zillion other things.
The smartphone distraction remains at home and you add in TV, kids, computers (with more social media and more distractions), etc.
This makes it very easy to flit from one thing to the other and never really slow down and concentrate. Reading seems to help me do that. Whether with a book or with my Kindle when I am reading I am reading – nothing more, nothing less.
This is why I don’t want to read on an iPad or tablet (that and the backlighting and eye strain). I want to read, not check email or Twitter or Facebook or sports scores or whatever.
Reading is one of the few things in my life that seems to allow me to connect and focus – to devote long chunks of time to one thing and accomplish something.
Now of course I need to get better at focusing and staying on task at work and other important efforts, but reading still brings a unique satisfaction that few if any other thing I do can.
Jun 12 2011
Blogs, Blogging and Comments
Image via Wikipedia
There used to be a rather hearty debate online about what exactly defines a blog. What sets a blog apart from a webpage or magazine or other online format?
This is not one of those posts. Instead, it is just my pixelated version of asking the question: to be successful at blogging do you need to read and comment on blogs?
I think if you want a certain amount of traffic and influence the answer is yes. And this has presented me with a more and more pressing dilemma.
Because I don’t really read a lot of book or literary blogs anymore; and almost never comment if I happen to stumble upon a post. Basically, my free time has been squeezed by work and family and I have a limited amount of true free time. Since I love to read, books take up a chunk of that time.
Much of the time I have left gets eaten up by social media; Facebook, twitter, etc. In fact, any blog reading I do will usually come from links found at these sources. Add in the fact that I have a wide variety of interests (I not only read a lot of different genres plus non-fiction, but I also focus on issues like sports, politics, and faith. This means a lot of people to follow and information to process which creates a dangerous time suck.
More and more this means very little blog reading and no commenting to speak of.
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By Kevin Holtsberry • Views • 2 • Tags: blogging, blogs, comments, Facebook, Online Communities, social media, Twitter