Does it further the philosophical (or ethical or religious) goal of promoting human flourishing? Have you learned anything? Or is it just a waste of time? These questions come up for discussion from time to time, most recently in light of remarks at LDS General Conference (reviewed in this Nine Moons post) suggesting blogging is a distraction from more important things (which would probably include just about anything except playing video games or watching television). Nine Moons disagrees, and suggests this defense (of blogging, not gaming): “I’m doing a great work and cannot come down.”
Here are some recent posts sharing the personal experiences of a few LDS bloggers.
- “Mormon Blogs and the Search for Truth” — “I love to ponder, learn, share, and discuss. I love when people challenge my beliefs in a way that stretches me to seek more deeply for understanding and helps me gain a greater vision of the possibilities and the truth.”
- “Blogging and the Transformative Power of the Written Word” — “I have used my blogging as a way to transform my tumultuous thoughts into a tangible form. Blogging is a way to give form to difficult emotions and send them off …”
- “The Blogging Experience” — “I’ve gained an appreciation for the huge spectrum of individuals and interpretation/beliefs that fall under the large tent called “Mormonism”. It’s definitely bigger than I had ever imagined.”
One can highlight the value of blogging by focusing on what one learns, as noted above. Or one can highlight the cost of blogging by noting the opportunity cost of the time spent blogging: you’re not giving up much if you spend an hour blogging rather than watching television, but you’re giving up a lot if you skip church or miss your kid’s soccer game in order to post, comment, or read. I suspect most of you reading this post think blogging is, on the whole, a worthwhile activity, but not everyone agrees.
posted April 15, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I like the thought about opportunity cost. That’s something to ponder.
Now back to cramming for my final exam….
posted April 15, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I never skip Church to blog! Maybe miss a load of laundry here and there…
posted April 16, 2009 at 12:27 am
Reading this post was a total waste of time. Back to my Wii…
posted April 16, 2009 at 8:49 am
As far as the LDS Newsroom is concerned, the answer would seem to be “yes” …
posted April 16, 2009 at 8:08 pm
This is a fascinating topic (if a non-Mormon can comment…). I’ve thought a lot about this since I’ve been doing my Beliefnet blog. It is time-consuming: not the writing—that’s my gift; it’s what I do— but the links and putting in the pictures. And I liked reading that some blogger loved it when people challenged his/her beliefs. I must admit that I find the negative comments, which I get occasionally, hard to take. If I don’t like reading something, I read something else but refrain from chastising the author. That’s obviously not the etiquette in the blog world. Anyway, thanks for the post and best wishes.
posted April 17, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Thanks for the comment, Victoria (who runs the blog ). Yes, every blogger deals with comment problems from time to time, it’s nice to think that all the effort has an overall positive effect — on the writers as well as readers and commenters.