“It’s empty now, no friendly face and nothing lives within, I look around and I find no trace to tell me what has been…
“So far I’ve come to find there’s no one here, no life I fear, I came for nothing, they have gone…
And nobody’s Home…” ~Kansas
That’s how it has felt the last few days in cyberspace. (Can I say “cyberspace,” or its that too 1999?) I normally don’t spend much effort commenting on the state of the internet – after all, it comments on itself all the time without my encouragement. But in the last few days my feeds count (the RSS folder in my browser) has been abnormally empty. Even photographers who have recently been loading their sites with all kinds of brilliance have been silent the past few days.
I guess maybe with the first day of spring here, it might be that everyone is outside, which is nice, and although I am outside a lot too, I talk about it and post pictures of it.
On my other blog (you know, the dark, weird one), I have noted on a number of occasions how little I like Facebook. I am particularly discouraged by the way I see it gobbling up the internet, in such a way that it has an exclusional effect, such that you can’t live on the web without it. As my readers know, I use Facebook as a point of contact and not much else.
So I say to the webizens: post some cool stuff on your own web sites, and I will follow them in my RSS feed, read it all, and comment if the inspiration strikes. I am starting to feel lonely in here.
I’ve definitely had that feeling, on occasion. My wife and I use the phrase, “I’ve reached the end of the Internet” when we’ve browsed around for a while and found nothing new or interesting.
Looking back at my earliest blog entries (circa 2005), I can sense my own excitement at all that was available. I was finding something new each day, making acquaintances, reading news, etc.
But today’s Web certainly seems more compartmentalized, as each site (Facebook, Flickr, Google, Yahoo, etc.) attempts to build walls around internet activity. “You can do everything *here*, so why visit another site?” they all seem to be begging.
A lot of people don’t even use browser bookmarks anymore, since they’re doing everything on one site.
On a more personal note, I tend to go through periods of time when I feel like “I have nothing new to report”, so my blog will stay silent for a few days on end. This may be an aging thing, or a parenting thing, or just a cyclic thing (more likely the latter).
There are also times when a flash of brilliance will strike, but I’m in the middle of changing a diaper or giving a bath to the baby. By the time I’m seated in front of the computer again, the moment has passed. :-)