Life Analog: My Other Blogs

Here's to Old-School Blogs!
I tend to think in terms of "how can I blog that?"

A blog is my absolute favorite medium! I believe blogs combine the best creative aspects of our pre-social media (and largely more analog) world: storytelling, photography, filmmaking, radio broadcasting, narrative structure, investigative journalism, educational nonfiction and cross-platform art. Blogs offer an affordable, easily-accessed, readily-distributable format for artists, writers, musicians, reporters, teachers, inventors and collectors to curate and collaborate, tell stories and find tribes. Yay, blogs!

Many who have blogged for a long time (Since 2007 for me) think of blogging as a way to satisfy our inner media moguls, film auteurs, artists, curators, muckrakers and novelists. You can create your own little world with a blog, without the soul-crushing uniformity of a social media hive. Blogs are highly democratic, (mostly) free of gatekeepers and still my favorite thing about the Internet. As both a writer and a photographer, I can combine what I love most within a blog format -- without having to get funded by a corporation. (I think most long-term bloggers are a little bit radical. All of us are control-freaks.)

It seems weird, I suppose, to wax rhapsodic about blogs when I'm advocating that we embrace a more analog life. Hear me out...

I believe that unplugged from the rabid, endless, addictive trap of social media (especially when continuously accessed by our phones) we rediscover all the great ways the Internet can make our real lives better. A good blog for me is like a good book, or a good film, or a lovely piece of art. And when blogs are done well, they can be all of those things in one.

To dismiss blogs just because Facebook turned out to be so awful is like dumping your books along with old copies of The National Enquirer.

That's not to say that you can't fall into digital blog rabbit holes, but if you want to limit online time and avoid the temptation to scroll, scroll, scroll, you can request blogs to email you new articles as they are posted (see my sign-up form on the lower right hand column,) or subscribe to a blog's weekly or monthly newsletter. For me, it's all about balance as a reader ... and, as a blogger, to offer inspiration for my readers to get offline and enjoy life beyond a screen.

I believe that when we create blogs, we have to be far more interesting than when we quickly post an emoji or hit a like button.

As a writer, Twitter takes valuable time away from actual writing as I focus on those 280 characters. Instagram was a creativity killer for me as a photographer. I didn't like having to transfer my photos from camera to iPhone in order to showcase them via the app, and I don't like the idea of a Facebook-owned platform that gets rich from the content provided for free by its users. I'd much rather highlight my work in my own blog gallery. Social media strategists will say I'm missing out on opportunities to market my work. I'm okay with that.

I describe blogs as the kooky thrift stores, used book shops and indie cafes down the street from the social media big box store. Support your local bloggers! It's the "Shop Local" of the Internet.

You've found this blog. Here are my others:

(Watch the videos for a preview of what they are. Click the links to visit. And thanks for hanging out in my little empire!)

Books With Laurie
Scroll Less. Read More Books.
bookswithlaurie.com

Glancing About
Los Angeles Street Photography (Sometimes Off the Street)
glancingabout.com