Nix von wegen "aus dem Auge"! Out of sight - out of my mind... no way...It has been about 28 months since I started this blog. Al Gore praises blogs and internet forums as a way to finally recreate a type of public square, where people can truly exchange ideas and participate in the flow of information in all directions. I am sure this blog does indeed help Mr. Gore's concern.
I choose the name of this blog with a particular phenomenon in mind which one my friends in Lübeck has mentioned when weighing the pros and cons of life in the United States. How often does contact seem to dissolve or perhaps fall asleep? After so many shared experiences in the land of the free, one goes to another continent, and after a time you simply don't here from people any more - "out of sight out of mind" as we say in English, or "aus dem Auge aus dem Sinn" in German. I created this blog as an effort to battle against this "sight-mind" predicament, and since some I know in the states welcomed my new blog, I looked forward to more reliable contact. Now we can share photos, and they can get an idea of my life here in east Germany and compare it to life in the Lone Start State.
And now, when I look over the comments that have accumulated and the results of the live feed, I see my most loyal readers and commenters are all either in the European continent or "down under". Readers from the states are few and far between.
But how baffelling it is that the people who know me in so-called real life seem so uninterested in any kind of regular checking-in - even just visiting the page would show interest requiring almost no effort - you won't "bust a gut" clicking on the link for this blog. And I know when I visit the states the next time all will be normal - as if I had just been there yesterday. So there is no animosity or estrangement in the works - I think, at least.
I am thankful for any and all readers - what a unique opportunity to in some way get to know people you could never contact otherwise. But I now wonder if my friend in Lübeck is correct. Are we Americans simply that way, that we have such short memories that we forget anyone who is not physically around us regularly? Or are we "soooo busy" that we just can't click on one more link? "I am busy" seems to be the existiential justification for existence in the western world these days.
Do we need more effort to create forced remembrance in our lives? A little thinking, a little looking, and "someday you will find me in Saxony"....
4 Kommentare:
I think it is world wide thing Mark. My brother lives just across town, but has not yet visited me in my new townhouse. He is always too busy or away ... and I have more to do with my blogger friends than I do with him on a day to day basis.
We tend to see him only at Christmas - and as his family/children are all overseas at the moment, we probably won't even see him this time round.
He is a loner (by choice) and so very many folk are these days.
Sad state of the world I think.
I certainly enjoy hearing about your life in Saxony and it's comparison to the life you knew in the USA.
There is a way to read blogs without visiting the site also. I read your blog posts as they come through a Google Reader subscription. Since I keep up with so many blogs (< 120) it's much easier to use a subscription service than to click on each one every day only to find there is not a new post. The Reader alerts of new posts. Of course, I myself haven't written a blog in over a month because of the new job.
Karen: Well that proves how computer illiterate I still am. A Google reader subscription - how does that work? So a great number of people could be reading my blog without my knowing anything about it?
Aggie: I think a lot about how high tech communication should make it easier to communicate, but in the end it often accomplishes the opposite. What costs nothing is worth nothing; when it is so cheap and easy to communicate, it can become assumed and thus irrelevant.
I don't think the problem of the "dissolving contact" is one specific to America- I think it is one specific to people. I always find it sad when it happens, but I know it is natural too, and people do have busy lives. The good thing about it is, if the contact really is worthwile, you will not fall out of each other's lives, even if you may not be in touch for a while.
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