Jason R Brown

Why Am I Blogging?

30 Jul 2020

Almost immediately after I wrote the last post, I realized a better starting point for a blog would probably be to write about why I wanted to write in the first place. Now I’m correcting that oversight and will attempt to explain my motivations, what I intend to write about, and who my intended audience is.

Motivations

I’ve identified four main reasons behind my decision to start blogging. They are as follows:

1. Writing Helps Me Solidify My Thoughts

I’ve recently been thinking about a problem that I seem to have. I believe I have an understanding of a concept, until I have to try and explain to it someone else and realize I actually don’t understand it at all. I’m not alone in finding this and have done of bit of reading about it. At the beginning of this year I read the classic How To Read A Book by Mortimer Adler and more recently the excellent essay Why Books Don’t Work. A common suggestion is to take notes. Not just any notes but to take the concepts the author lays out, distill that information, and rewrite it in you own words.

I’ve begun to do just that any time I’m reading or actively trying to learn something. I’ll talk more about how exactly I’m doing that in a later post. I can say that in the few months that I’ve been recording what I learn, I’ve noticed a definite improvement in my ability to recall and retain information which in turn has allowed me to more clearly explain things I’ve learned to other people.

2. Spark Creativity By Putting Words on Paper

By writing my thoughts down, I’ve noticed it not only increases my understanding, but also allows me to more easily connect concepts and trigger new ideas. The methodology of note taking I’m using is what’s known as a zettelkasten or slip-box. It’s a bit like a personal wiki where you write individual notes and then link them together forming hypertext. The method has a reputation for being good for writers as it allows you to connect dots between old and new ideas that you may not have connected without it.

For myself, I’ve noticed that the act of forcing myself to more fully understand and articulate a concept sparks tangential ideas. A natural result of spending more time pondering an idea is you begin to ask questions about it which lead to new and creative ideas.

3. I Like Blogs

Writing to help me form my thoughts into a more coherent shape is all well and good but couldn’t I just achieve that by journaling? Why bother sharing it? I like reading blogs, particularly small personal blogs. I find it fascinating to catch a glimpse of another persons way of thinking about a topic that can be difficult to find elsewhere in life. I’m sure most people have a few close friends that they can have long, in-depth conversations with regarding a subject they are both interested in but I’ve found that those types of conversations are not as frequent as I’d like.

A blog post, while not two way communication, tends to be written in a more personal style than most other types of writing and allows you to have some of the same benefit as a deep conversation. I don’t necessarily expect that anyone will read these, but if someone does and one of my posts happens to provide some amount of value for them then that is enough reason for me.

4. Bring Back The Personal Web

I’m young enough that I don’t really have any memory of the early days of the web before the consolidation of traffic and rise of the giant platforms. The days of Geocities and abundant, horribly designed personal websites are something I hear people talk about wistfully but cannot really relate to. Something that I can understand however, is a desire to remove oneself from the social networking ecosystem.

For a variety of reasons, I’ve cut my use of social media to near zero. I don’t like the invasive data collection, the sale of said data, the huge amounts of money invested in engineering sites to be more addictive, and the lack of control of that go hand in hand with the social media giants. I can share any kind of content on this site that I could share on Facebook or Twitter and more because I alone decide what is allowed. This blog is my own platform and therefore every aspect of it is a reflection of me.

Subject Matter

This post has gone on long enough so I’ll keep the rest of it brief. I intend to write about things that interest me. This may include (but isn’t limited to):

Audience

Who do I intend to write for? Primarily myself. However, I’m also keeping in mind close friends, family, and perhaps a few strangers with similar interests. As I don’t participate in social media, I can refer friends and family to this blog to get some idea of what I’m up to.

Conclusion

If anyone has made it this far I’ll be impressed. Essentially my motivation for blogging come down to it’s a good way for me to improve my thinking, spark creativity, and to create the potential for some deeper level of connection than would be possible if I just kept my writings private.