The lastest thing to go by the by
That is a curious phrase, “By the by.” What it meant a century or two ago was a reference to things that are no longer useful or relevant. Later terms referred to things like, “a fad” or “a flash in the pan.” I write this because I realize that I am turning into a bad blogger. I’m not saying the quality is poor; I’m referring to the quantity. My blogging has become more and sporatic and I can guess you know why. The reason is that blogging has gone by the by.
When I was a kid we got our first microwave oven. It was huge, heavy and noisy, BUT IT HAD A PURPOSE. Today, I will use a microwave oven. It is convenient, mounted over our stove and relatively quiet. It is user friendly and easy to operate. The point is that this marvel is still performing its magic thirty years after its inception. Why? Because IT HAS A PURPOSE. What is that purpose? To serve us with convenience and save us some money. A microwave oven will pay for itself over time (including the electricity it uses) because we don’t waste food - we eat it. We shall refer to this as evaluating a product/service by how it pays by its purpose.
That’s a good example, but there have been some poor ones. Remember Laser-Disc movies? What about bulky Beta-Max? How about Zip Drives on Computers. Pagers had their day, but cell phones killed that market. Technology rules the day, but we have to have the vision to guess which ones will hang around and which ones will bite the dust. These products were outdone by the better mousetrap! They don’t pay by purpose and therefore, must be discarded.
Blogging was very cool when it first arrived on the scene. Alex Pinto, the guru who built and maintains this web-site, used to be enthusiastic about it. He even bought me a book on how to blog effectively. When I only blogged once a week, he was disappointed. Now, not so much. Why? What changed? Blogging is to social networking what cell phones are to I-Phones. The purpose simply does not pay. Someone can tweet or twitter and that makes a blogger like me typing in a backdrop from the Jurassic era. Technology decides what mediums pay by purpose and blogging is right there next to the Creedence Clearwater Revival 8 track tape. Bye bye blogsters!
But I am a dinosaur; I choose to be. No, I have never sent a text message. My two goals in life are 1) Never to kill anyone and
2) Never send a text message
Yes, I still have a Zip Drive on one of my four computers. I just can’t stand to part with the things! I did get rid of my DOS computer and the one with Windows 95 on it. When I tried to circulate sermons in my Sunday School class by developing a lending library for the class, whereby they would take CDs from the bin, they looked back at me in horror. One suggested the ease of I-Pod downloads as an alternative and another wanted to load them on a webite for phones and media players. My head almost exploded. I suppose I’ll just drop the whole idea. Everything anyone REALLY WANTS is just a mouse click away. But I’ll keep to my backwards ways.
The answer to the question is yes, I will blog on. They will probably only be monthly, but as you can see, I have a hard time parting with things. I met a guy yesterday at the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce Luncheon and he began with the tech stuff. I told him that “I still like to live most of my life in 1975.” His wife asked about my mood ring and, with a straight face, I told her that it is on my nightstand next to my bed, which it is. I’ll put it on later and see how this blog affected me.
I guess the question is, “Does this blog affect anyone?” I guess it does. It affects me because it gives me an avenue to vent. Does it pay by purpose? Psychologically, yes, but financially? You read the ads on my web-site, didn’t you? Ha! Got ya! Actually my blogging does public good. When I want to kill the moron who keeps texting me and asking that I text him back, I blog instead of murder. This pays by keeping me out of the penal system and also pays by making sure blog boy doesn’t go down for a dirt nap! A lot of things have gone by the by. Let’s make sure that the ability to laugh at ourselves is never one of the casualties.