Blogging, for me is an interesting hobby. I think for many of us that remain out here in the blogosphere, it’s become a way for us to express ourselves, simply, without all of the overhead that is required for other forms of media. Think about it, right now, I’m typing this on an old iPad, it requires nothing else than my WordPress subscription; I don’t require a video camera, or a microphone or even a special place to set down my thoughts. I can do this in my home office, in the living room, or as I am now, sitting outside on my patio, on a perfect morning, drinking coffee.

I have the opportunity, before I ever start writing in the morning, of perusing the Internet for interesting stories I may want to comment on, or like this, nothing at all in particular. Very little preparation time is required, usually.  Sometimes, I bookmark stories for a later date that I may want to reference. Again, easy enough to do and by doing that, always gives me something to write about.

There’s not much real journalism here, although, based on a lot of what I read and view daily, I might easily fall into that category. Most of what we see daily is nothing more than opinion, with a smattering of facts to bolster those same opinions – no different than me, an amateur. I try to be careful of links I provide here because there is so much out there today, it’s easy to become addicted to sites, and television channels that do nothing but validate a particular bias, something we all have to one extent or another.

The one thing that keeps we few going, I think, is that there are people willing to stop for a few minutes during their day, and read what we write. It’s different, and I ‘m sure I’ve mentioned this on numerous other occasions, that it takes less time to read an essay than to listen to most video creators. Do I ever visit YouTube? Yes, but it’s rare, simply because of the time required.

Recently, on Twitter, I commented to someone I follow posting selfies with several different people (at some conference)  famous(?) YouTubers, that I’d never heard of any of these people. The response was eye-opening: Do you ever watch Youtube? I guess I’m supposed to spend all of my spare time (or a considerable amount of it), watching videos by people that may or may not interest me. The same here. What I write may not be interesting to a lot of people and that’s okay. When I think about it, yes, it’s nice to have visitors here, the more the merrier, but ultimately, the numbers don’t drive this site. There are no advertisers, and I’m not looking to increase my numbers to generate income, as seems (at least to me) to be the goal of many videographers.

Of course I expect a little pushback on that, but my evidence comes from social media itelf, where I see various people promoting their work, and others asking for more to subscribe because, at least on YouTube, subscribers means that a site can be monetized. Some make quite a lot, monthly, on just what they produce there. I don’t have a problem with that in general: Hey! it’s capitalism at it’s finest! But it also forces those same people to keep producing content, no matter what, just to keep a subscriber base.

I honestly don’t need that level of pressure. If I want to write, I do. If I want to take a day or two away from here, I do. I make a living either way, no worries about how much or how often I write. I’m only beholding, ultimately, to myself.