I wrote this as Smartmom on October 7, 2004 on the original OTBKB, which is now called Third  Street. 

There’s something about a blog that makes a person want, no, need, no, desperately need, some sort of response. It’s a big shout into the universe for attention. A yearning yelp into an echoey tunnel as in: Hello, is anyone there? Does anyone want to play? Is anybody listening? Hello? Hello? Hellooooooooooooooo?

Pathetic, eh?

Actually it’s a little embarrassing. And yet, why write a blog unless someone is going to read it? Isn’t that the whole point of the exercise. And it’s not just Smartmom out there blogging—though her blog is, by all reports, wildly original and fun. There are tens of thousands of blogs at Blogspot alone. Haven’t you ever wondered what that small button on the masthead that says “next blog” means? Try it someday and you’ll see. There’s a whole world of blogs out there, people from all over the world desperate to communicate. When she is supposed to be doing other things, Smartmom has read blogs from Adelaide, Australia; Florence, Italy; Stutgart, Germany; Singapore, Thailand, Lebanon, even New Jersey.

Kind of gets you thinking, doesn’t it. Is all this blogging a cry for help or the proverbial note in the bottle thrown out to the proverbial sea?

Yes, indeed. Blogging has has become one gigundo phenomenon. And Blogspot is probably just one of hundreds of blog-generating sites for those desperate to be heard. In a sense, Blogspot is a global village for the graphomaniacs of the world. Marshall McCluhan could never have imagined such a thing. And he thought television was going to be the big global municipality. Hate to say it, but that is so 20th century, man. Fact is, there are probably millions of blogs out there worldwide. Imagine: a small virtual universe of people striving for connection.

Now that’s really profound, isn’t it? It’s friggin existential. Contemplating it now, Smartmom feels like a tiny, tiny speck in the blog universe. So very small and insignificant. Very, very teeny tiny.

Hello? Is anybody there? Is anybody really listening? Helloooooooooooooooooooooooo…