Michael Martine of Remarkablogger recently asked a question I expect might evoke introspection in many of us on the Nature Blog Network: Can blogging make you a better person? How would tapping out any old thought that comes to mind make one a better person. Oh, you think I’ve gotten blogging confused with Twitter? Maybe so but many blogs read that way.
I’ve always believed that nature blogging definitely helps one become a better naturalist. That’s why I started 10,000 Birds and suspect many of you share a similar origin story. Yet even I have to wonder how opening a free account on Blogger in order to share drink recipes or baby pics improves one’s character.
Thankfully, Martine does draw a distinction between merely blogging and blogging with commitment, integrity, and excellence. He concludes that not just blogging but striving to have a successful blog can help you be a better person. That dedication to success makes part of, but not all of, the difference in a number of ways:
- Blogging helps you hone and refine your thinking through the effort to write clearly.
- Blogging helps you achieve greater understanding through interacting with others’ points of view.
- Blogging helps you learn discipline, because no highly successful blogger is undisciplined.
- Blogging helps you learn to be consistent because without it your readers will abandon you in favor of someone more reliable.
- Blogging helps you learn how to set and meet goals.
- Blogging teaches you to withstand attacks to your arguments.
- Blogging helps you connect with other people.
- Blogging helps you express yourself creatively through writing or other media such as video.
- Blogging to genuinely help people helps you see the value of acting on your values and beliefs.
Please take a moment to read the full post and share your thoughts in the comments below. Has nature blogging made you a better naturalist? Has it made you a better person (or a worse one!) or is your character untouched by your adventures in micropublishing?
6 Comments
Good article. Better person? It won’t change your values, but most certainly, it will strengthen you according to your efforts, making you reach deeper. While reading, I could relate to many points: discipline, consistency, meeting goals, connecting, creativity, among them. Blogging is a wonderful stage for expressing what is meaningful in our lives.
What I can add, stepping out on the blogging stage challenges and causes you to consider time, priorities and purpose. And anytime you care, you are a better person.
Hmmmm. Better person? Not sure about that. However, I think the general idea is sound . . . blogging forces one to think beyond oneself. Knowing that 150 people checked in to see what I had to say yesterday makes me less likely to post drivel. While on vacation, I thought a lot about how to present the moments I was seeing and experiencing. Definitely makes me see the world in a new way and think long and hard about how to present it in clear, interesting ways. That makes me a more fulfilled and satisfied person so I guess that is better.
a better naturalist – yes definitely! though it is my love for nature that drives my blogging, there have been several times when my blog has kindled an interest in a certain aspect of nature and made me look up things that i may not have otherwise. blogging goes a long way in helping me refine and structure my thoughts, remember my experiences and build on my amateur knowledge.
Since i intend my blog to be a repository of knowledge and interesting facts about trees & plants, lookign at it grow gives me a sense of pride and achievement! so i guess it makes me a more satisfied person.
First off, I would like to thank you, Mike, for bringing this article to our attention. I just checked out the full article on the site, along with quite a few other articles listed there, and it’s full of good things to think about!
Has writing a nature-centric blog made me a better naturalist? There’s no doubt that the answer to that is YES! Knowing that I have an audience with which to share my discoveries and experiences makes me tune in more than I think I would otherwise, and it also helps me to imprint the experiences in my brain in a different way, since I have to remember the details to share with others, even though I may be relating the story weeks after it happened. Having my nature blog also encourages me to go crazy with my camera to help folks get a visual of what I’m sharing, and any excuse to take pictures is good with me.
Blogging has also helped me to connect with people (and the NBN has a lot to do with that), and has made me more likely to get out there and do things/meet people, whether it be me taking a hike by myself to photograph mushrooms or go to a bird walk to hang out with other birders. If it weren’t for blogging, and encouragement from another blogger I met in person, I would likely know nothing about the Midwest Birding Symposium, or else would have little motivation to attend.
Blogging is teaching me about time management and about knowing my limits (both things that I’m still working on!).
On the negative side, blogging makes the “needy beast” in me come out sometimes. I hate to say it, but when I don’t get any comments on a post that I think is important or fabulous, I take it personally and wonder why on earth everyone and their brother didn’t leave a comment! So, in that sense, blogging is making me aware of areas of my character that could stand to be improved upon!
Does blogging make me a better person? No. Does GOOD (knowledgeable) blogging make me a better writer? Definitely!
When 98% of one’s blog is photos, what’s that have to do with character development? But when you learn to write in “pyramid style” you learn to become a more effective writer. (Pyramid=main point at top, then supporting writing below. Like a pyramid.)
If sharing makes one a better person, then blogging can, too. If helping others understand how the natural world works makes one a better person, then blogging can do that. Blogging can even make people happier, both blogger and reader. I have received some emails that have moved me to tears, telling me about hospitalized and elderly readers who truly look forward to their daily hit of nature from my blog. This spurs me to try to create consistently good content, and to reach for greater heights, knowing that there are people out there who, for whatever reason, have come to depend on my “playing real good for free.” It certainly can make one a better, clearer writer and photographer. And, if the comments section is properly managed, it can open the blogger’s eyes to new perspectives and other people’s realities. I like this post and the thought it engenders. Thank you.