Blogging and Narcissism

I Googled “blogging / narcissism” this morning and find that my inner debate about the issue is well covered on the Internet. The correlation between “showing off,” exhibitionism, blogging and Facebook is apparently already trivially boring.

 

So goes my idea for an original essay.

 

I know people who are active bloggers and Facebookers who obviously like to take center stage every chance they get. I also know people who are very quiet about their blogs and Facebook accounts…people I consider introverts.

 

Various types of people want to reach out by writing or posting photos and getting a reaction from a reader here and there. The common thread, it seems, is that we humans want to be known. Some want to be better known by just a few people; some want to be known by hundreds of people.

 

And now that I know the debate is trivially common, I’m going to stop dwelling on whether or not you think I’m narcissistic.

 

I blog because it helps me remember the past. I blog because it reminds me I’m alive and moving through my day in a thoughtful way. I blog because the mechanics of creating and maintaining the blog site are gratifying. I blog because I don’t like housework. But mostly, I think, I blog because I miss the camaraderie and banter from my previous thirty years of office work. When you work alone, those meaningless conversations you had with co-workers back in the day are sorely missed.

 

That’s what I meant when I asked you not to judge me. I blog because I’m me. I have no one to talk to much of the time. And I’m going to stick with it.