So I found out today I am following a small trend no one knows exists. A bit like my blog, really: anti-social media. It turns out someone has created a blogging tool that doesn’t allow you to share it to social media. I am sure many will wonder what the point is, but I have a small inkling.
I have now been writing this daily blog for four months. It’s my way of keeping myself on a learning track. Not many people read it, unless I have told you where to find it. And even then, not many people read it.
I have turned off comments and it’s not easy to find a share button. I have no real way of contacting me on the blog, except through other social media links to which are only on my About Me page. My mother doesn’t read it. My sister doesn’t. Nor my partner. Or colleagues. I am okay with that.
Sometimes, the editorial quality probably slips a smidge because I know there are no adoring fans waiting to pounce on my pronunciations, but not usually. I try to keep my standards up. Even if it’s just for me. Occasionally, I have wondered whether I should bother writing because, after all, I am only writing for me. But that’s the entire point.
In forcing myself to write, I am forcing myself to read the things I subscribe to. Which are things I really want to know more about. If I didn’t blog, I might miss a day or two of reading about new technologies and thinking about the future of work. That wouldn’t be a problem, but I’d look up and suddenly a year would’ve blown by and my “learning” would’ve been less comprehensive than I want it to be. So I push myself to be true to myself.
Some days it’s the last thing I want to do. But do it I have done. And this is the 120th effort. And, whilst it may not amount to a lot each day, I find I am learning more about the things that interest me. And about the things that will affect my workplace experiences in the future.
That’s a fine feeling.
And it would seem, there are others who wish to write less for glory and more for guts as well. So much so, that there’s a tool to help you be anti-social with your blogging: txt.fyi. Wired have some thoughts on the topic. Shared. But not to anyone.