I have a bunch of blogging topics written down in Notes.app. And every time I think of a new topic, I get excited about the possibility of the creative energy stemmed from that topic, and the resulting output that will wow my readers and cause them to respond. So I write it down.

And then I go back to my list of blogging topics thinking, “Hmm what should I write about this time?”.

But then I look at the list, frustrated. This is my list? These topics are stupid. (No, I won't share my list.)

Or, I'll start writing about a topic thinking it's going to be good. Halfway, though, I realize it's stupid, not original, and meandering. So I just... stop. Mildly dispirited.

“This is hard. Is it even worth blogging anymore?”

I stumbled upon a blog post titled, “If I could bring one thing back to the internet it would be blogs” .

[Blogs are] the thing I miss the most and the most often. They were the most valuable thing on here, besides freer availability of news, free although low quality video content on YouTube, and I guess some kinds of social media. But blogs are something you can sit down and read and get really into to the point you forget where you even are, and think about how you want to try those things maybe in your life, or just enjoy their writing, and you can read deeper into them into past blog posts, and tune back in later and see what they've posted since the last things you read about them.

Here's the thing. Blogging would be easy if it weren't for bite-sized, easily digestible social media posts—the tweets, the stories, the tiktoks, the status updates, etc. But our appetite, tolerance, and resulting brain chemistry now demands entertainment in 30 seconds. Hell, TV is too long now too, apparently.

And by no means am I saying I'm above the fray here, either. I think a large part of the reason why it's even hard for me to blog is because it is much easier tweeting. And It was much easier posting on Instagram and Facebook because the expectations for quality and thoughtfulness are so much lower.

But who's to say that my blog posts have to be long-form thought pieces?

Fuck that, right? The only thing holding me back is my own expectations of the past. Embrace the future, Dan! Your blog posts can be tweet-sized!

But also, don't we miss those Xanga/LiveJournal/Blogger days?

I do.