Can we have it both ways?

Have you ever made an excuse to a friend (or worse, a relative!) that you couldn’t get together because you were busy blogging? Well, you probably didn’t admit that reason to the friend or even to yourself. But, have you found yourself writing, or commenting, or studying up on the subject of blogging and you just couldn’t tear yourself away?

For those of us non-pro bloggers, the big topics we’re trying to conquer are:

1. How to get paid to do it
2. How to get links
3. How to get comments
4. How to Digg or Twitter or Stumble

Regardless of your expertise, if you are blogging, you’re either studying up now to stay competitive, or to learn to compete. In the midst of this work (some might call it obsession) do you ever ponder blogging as a cultural phenomenon and what it says about us?

When you are with those friends, colleagues and family members who aren’t into blogging, do you even mention your blogging life, or does it make you feel a little too sheepish?

Let’s see, I did have a point when I started this post … we have created a forum in which sharp communication flourishes as our thoughts fly across great distances. Friends and business partners can be discovered here without benefit of body language, gentle smiles, derisive guffaws, eye contact, tonal nuance, a whiff of someone’s shampoo, or a quick punch in the shoulder. It’s as though we bloggers dwell in some kind of shadowland.