Where have all the blogger's gone??

Where have all the blogger's gone?  I really don't know.  I ask myself this everyday when I check my blog and NO ONE has updated in days, weeks, month's or years. 

Today at church, Cynjyn was making fun of me and my new app I got for my phone.  It allows me to add sparkle and movement to a picture.  I was so excited and she asked me why I bothered, why am I on Instagram?  So I told her why I started blogging and Instagramming.

Remember back in the day when you anxiously awaited at your mail box for a letter to arrive. Long anticipated news of those that you loved.  What had they been up to? Had anyone been sick?  Did any of them have a great accomplishment? What had happened to them that was just an everyday experience of life?  I remember that.  I first went away to college at BYU and LIVED for letters from home, letters from Garry, any news of anyone I missed.  I would call home once a week and talk to everyone, but a letter was just so exciting. 

I've always lived away from family.  I always loved hearing about what was going on with them.  It made me feel like I was there, a part of their lives.  So in 2007, my sister suggested I start blogging.  That way, I could have a written account of my life and my family's life and my loved ones that lived far away, could instantly see what was happening.  I loved the idea and this blog was born.  I did it for my extended family that I didn't get to see everyday.  An added benefit was that it also became my journal and a family history book.  A documented happening of our lives.  Soon, family members and friends started blogging and it was so exciting to see updates on my feed.  I loved opening my blog and seeing that 10 other friends and family had blogged too.  It was like getting mail!

I joined Facebook a long time ago, but never got into posting updates.  I love reading other peoples updates, but a lot of it is trivial stuff, which is great, but I also have many friends on FB who I would consider more acquaintances.  Also the aspect of how do you get a hard copy of those happenings and all the stuff you're putting out there for posterity's sake?  Complicated.  Then Instagram came along.  I immediately loved it.  Smaller and more intimate than FB.  You can be private, or public, see and like something without having to get constant updates and more actual friends on it than acquaintances.  Yes, IG was for me!  I could share something immediately happening with my close friends and most importantly my extended family!  My siblings and parents and nieces and nephews were on it and I could glimpse their lives and feel apart of them and feel close without living close by.  I loved it. 

Then something dreaded happened.  Snapchat...to me that has ruined this sharing of life.  My kids are constantly on Snapchat and snapping away pictures of their lives, and then they just disappear, gone for good, no record what so ever that anything happened.  To me that is dreadful.  Taz's friend got hurt and had black and blue eyes, she Snapchatted a photo to everyone.  I wanted to see how she was doing, but the picture was gone, lost somewhere in cyberspace, record permanently deleted.  All of a sudden, my nieces and nephews and kids were sending their photos that lasted maybe 20 seconds before disappearing.  Now they were no longer Instagramming anything...oh I saw that on Snapchat, really I want to see...oh I don't have it anymore.  UGH!

So back to our church conversation.  I started these two things to keep in touch with those I love.  Now, no one updates blogs anymore.  They are too busy, they think it's too much work.  They think no one is reading them. They think no one cares anymore. They think they've said it all on FB or IG of SC.  Well I care, I read, I want to stay in touch.  In a world where there is so much instant gratification and technology at our fingertips, we sure don't see a lot of our close friends and family anymore.  I miss that, but when they blog or IG for just a moment, I am in their world, catching a glimpse of them and what they are doing and I feel connected and in touch and I love it.  So I will continue to blog and IG and make records of my life and my family and I will continue to wonder what is happening with those I love and try to remain connected some way, some how.  If the urge hits and you have a spare moment, blog...document...record.  I'll be waiting.