All Blogged Down

All Blogged Down
By Marilyn Mackenzie

The world certainly has changed. Just the other day, someone I’ve chatted with online for years explained why she had not been more active in a group for thrifty moms. She said she was “all blogged down.”

Bogged down I understood. Moms around the world have probably used that phrase or the equivalent for years.

But “blogged down”? Had she meant that she was up to her ears in making entries in her own blog? Or had she become so addicted to reading the blogs of others that she was neglecting her other activities, both online and off? Good question, right?

Being “all blogged down” probably speaks for many these days, young and old.

For those who do not keep up such things, a blog is a web log, or an online diary or journal. Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English defines a weblog as, “a personal web site that provides updated headlines and news articles of other sites that are of interest to the user, also may include journal entries, commentaries and recommendations compiled by the user; also written web log, weblog; also called blog.” That pretty much covers it.

Some folks are addicted to reading blogs of persons they have never met. Day in and day out, they log on to see what others have done in their daily lives or what movies or books they recommend. It’s as if they have become voyeurs.

The Internet has taken over the lives of young and old alike. Young folks rush home, wanting to spend time with online games, at MySpace.com and various chat rooms.

Adults log on, and under the guise of being with a group of like-minded people, spend hours online, often neglecting their families, friends, even jobs.

For the lonely or disabled, having an Internet connection can be a real lifesaver, though. Homebound persons, no matter whether they are young or old, suddenly can boast new friends that they might not have had otherwise.

So, is being connected to the Internet a good or bad thing? The jury is still out on that, I suppose.

For the busy mom, it certainly is easier to shop online than to gather all the kids in the SUV and run to the store. It also spares them having each child beg for toys and snack items.

For the traveling business manager, shopping online, checking stock prices, reading the morning news headlines (or entire newspapers), can be a time saver, while keeping him/her up-to-date.

All in all, I think the Internet has more benefits than liabilities. That is, if we don’t all get “all blogged down.”

Marilyn Mackenzie has been writing about home, family, faith and nature for over 40 years. She is an author on http://www.Writing.Com which is a site for Creative Writers. Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/kenzie