Which came first: the geek or the blog?
A couple months ago, a friend and I went to Boulder on a Thursday evening to meet up with a bunch of locals and another blogger who was in town. I didn’t get home until close to one o’clock – way past this mama’s usual bedtime.
The next night, I went to Bunco but left early, telling my hostess: “I’m sorry, but I’m wiped. I went to a blogger meet-up last night in Boulder.”
She shook her head and affectionately replied, “You’re such a geek.”
Is blogging inherently geeky?
Obviously, any blogger has to know enough about the web that she: 1) knows what a blog is; and 2) knows where to get herself one. But what about the motivation to create a blog – is it borne of geekiness?
I’ve read a lot of other bloggers’ reasons for blogging, and I’ve been asked many times about my own reasons. This is going to sound awfully pathetic (even though I don’t see it that way), but the predominant motivation I’ve found is loneliness, not geekiness.
I don’t mean loneliness in the sense that all of these women are holed up in tiny apartments with fifty cats and only a DSL connection to the outside world. Rather, it’s that they’ve been unsuccessfully searching the outside world for a personal connection that they’ve finally managed to make online. The people in our neighborhoods – though nice enough – aren’t always those with whom we most closely identify.
But considering the personal and professional success of so many bloggers I’ve met, I can’t paint them as socially awkward, comfortable only in a virtual world. If that were the case, then we wouldn’t behave as we do at BlogHer. Even the self-proclaimed wallflowers are drawn into the mix, despite the fears they describe on their blogs in the weeks leading up to each conference.
Blogging is an art, not a science. Someone who is a coding genius doesn’t think to herself, I’ll start a blog! She thinks, I’ll make this kick-ass application that all the bloggers will want! Look at the blogs of people who create Wordpress themes. They aren’t personal blogs; they’re technology showcases.
Most of us aren’t coding geniuses, and nearly all of us are remarkably socially adept. And yet, we personal bloggers are viewed as geeks by outsiders – even outsiders whom we consider friends.
In that sense I can understand why the New York Times article about BlogHer08 was written with the focus it was and relegated to the Style section. It was pure fluff, and the only aspect of it I really liked was the picture of Jasper. I never got a makeover or a massage. If I’d seen an affirmation card in the bathroom telling me that I was perfect, I would have cackled.
Perhaps that article was geared toward making blogging appear less geeky to women like my Bunco hostess. Making it seem more mainstream, even more fashion-forward: “Hey, that conference I went to? There’s an article about it in the New York Times! Yeah, in the Style section! How cool is THAT?!”
But that’s what I find entertainingly off-base about such a line of thinking. I don’t care if my non-blogging friends think I’m a geek. I don’t care if they misunderstand blogging or my reasons for doing so. I’m not actively trying to change their perceptions of blogging.
So I suppose that’s why I was less bothered by the placement of the article than by its message – which focused on the girly aspects of BlogHer08 rather than the actual substance of the conference and the connections made there and throughout the year leading up to the conference. I attended BlogHer08 to see old friends and make new ones, to reconnect with past clients and meet up with potential new ones, and to learn from bloggers with different experiences than my own.
Okay, so I also hula-hooped and did a sun salutation on the Wii Fit. And drank wine at Guy Kawasaki’s. And lounged at Isabel’s. And gazed at Rocco DiSpirito and his pasta. And ate until I thought I’d burst at Asia de Cuba, courtesy of Microsoft.
Given all of the cool stuff I did and all the cool people I met, why would I possibly care about being perceived as a geek? If my BlogHer08 experience is what geekdom is all about, then bring it on – and leave the Style section out of it.
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Underwear that’s fun to wear, or so my kids tell me. Okay, they don’t really tell me that, but they do manage to wear it and that’s good enough for me.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:53 am
I would never consider myself a geek, but think blogging is rather glamorous. Not necessarily in a style-sense, but in a reality show kind of way (if that can be glamorous… maybe I should rethink this)… whatever the case, isn’t geek chic in?
Steph
Adventures In Babywearings last blog post..We Kissed By The Light Of The Oven Clock
August 4th, 2008 at 7:27 am
I’m thinking that a really geeky geek would probably say that blogs are old skool!
mayberrys last blog post..Overheard
August 4th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Some of my friends don’t understand blogging either. Others started their own blogs. If I’m a geek for blogging, so be it.
Heathers last blog post..Recession Stinks so Blog It!
August 4th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I think that it’s definitely something about community, and a need to know that there is someone out there who is thinking, feeling, doing, wanting, hating the same things. It’s completely human. Yes, technology has enabled us to connect more easily with people all over the world, but that doesn’t necessarily make all geeks bloggers, or all bloggers geeks. It does make us all human, though.
August 4th, 2008 at 9:37 am
I think we are more trendsetters than geeks.
Although, I am totally a geek. A socially adept, fashion aware, non-geeklike geek, but definitely a techie, sci-fi loving geek.
I liked the BBC article that was in the Technology section. As it should be.
caramamas last blog post..Question of the Week – Online Vs. IRL
August 4th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I am at peace with my geekiness.
Sarah, Goon Squad Sarahs last blog post..The Most Exclusive Ticket in Town
August 4th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Came from Kristen’s site and trying to do my part!
Tuesdays last blog post..Tough Times
August 4th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I pride myself in being a geek, but I think my non blogging friends thing blogging as that silly thing that I do. To which I say, when was the last time a silly thing you do got you into a fancy party at Macy’s?
Rhis last blog post..Important Ovary Surgery
August 4th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
i told my friends just lately about my blog and got all sorts of weird looks. s’okay. i like being a geek.
August 4th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Honestly, I never have considered myself a geek. But then again, I’ve never asked the people around me if they view me as one either. Oh, now I’m scared…
August 4th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I never thought of myself as a geek, but in comparison to the non-blogging friends I have, I might as well be Bill Gates. Labels don’t bother me much, so long as I’m happy with me.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
My husband finds my geeky side sexy.
Assertagirls last blog post..Scenes from a Canadian Long Weekend
August 4th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I’ve done both, and I’d say that Bunco is definitely geekier than blogging.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I’ve never thought of myself as a geek. My more “mainstream” activities like my book club are probably more geeky than my blog. But I’m with you – if blogging is indeed geeky then so be it. There are worse things in life than geekiness.
Kimberlys last blog post..Things remembered
August 4th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I was a geek first, before the blogs, so I don’t mind being called what I am, by profession even. The blogging I do isn’t terribly geeky though. I do it for community. I find that my geekiness, when combined with the fact that I’m a mom, is a much easier bit of common ground to find online than it is you know, out there in the real world.
Amelia Sprouts last blog post..The Great Interview Experiement
August 4th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I’m still in the blogging closet. Even my husband doesn’t know! He would definitely think me a geek, and probably not the sexy librarian kind.
Megans last blog post..
August 4th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
What a great post. I don’t think that blogging is inherently geeky anymore. I think that like you said, many of the women whose blogs I read (including me!) don’t know much about programming. The idea of self hosting scares the poop out of me because I just don’t know how. Some of my friends think I’m a geek because of my blog, but I honestly don’t care. I am PROUD of my blog, and my writing, and nothing can change that.
Rachaels last blog post..Help Wanted: Got a click for your fellow bloggers?
August 5th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Geeks rule the world, so if blogging makes us geeks, then I”m totally okay with that.
Caras last blog post..Vacation Hangover
August 6th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I don’t get the geek thing. Like, computer geek? Internet-gamer nerd?
I think that people don’t really understand that you don’t need a whole lot of technical savvy to hit the publish button on the pre-formatted thingies.
I mean, I’m not saying that I’m super-cool but I don’t think that I’m smart enough to be considered a geek for realz.
the new girls last blog post..While I Wasn’t Looking: A Photo Essay