Loneliness (Part II) and Anonymity (Part V)

Well a long long time ago, in the pre-historic age, before the advent of Blogs, we definitely had people who fit the bill as “Lonely” and “Anonymous” and all possible combinations of the two. All these so-called misfits might have spent their time picking up rice at a church were a wedding has been or writing sermons on walls, no more, now these folks can still “Anonymous”, but not “Lonely”.

It comes down to the definition of the baseline for normal social interaction. If we accept both “Rocke adda mara” and “Hanging around in a pub” as norms then I am sure “Hanging around in cyberspace” also would also satisfy it. Hence anyone who blogs can still be labeled as anonymous but definitely not as lonely.

No more lonely nights,
Never be another,
No more lonely nights
You're my guiding light,
Day or night I'm always there
– Paul McCartney
P.S. - As long as your ISP keeps you connected

Loneliness (Part I) and Anonymity (Part IV)

Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody out there?
– Pink Floyd

Are the folks at SETI the only people who ask that question (which again they should since they have decided to make it their life’s calling), or are these words of people akin to Pink Floyd in “The Wall” in the sense that they have strived to create a self imposed isolated life in hopes that it would make it painless and on achieving the goal realize that it still eludes them?

Take a hypothetical situation; if a person is extremely satisfied in every sense of the world; physically, mentally, intellectually, etc. etc. with their daily mortal needs, which is provided by his or her family, marital partner, friends, co-workers, and etc. then one would spend most of the time interacting with them and hence would not have the time nor inclination to spend a lot of time blogging. So are we to infer that people who blog for extended periods of time are not having some aspect of their life fulfilled by the people in their lives, hence the urge to blog is direct result of this feeling of emptiness or loneliness.

Therefore if the measure fulfillment derived from blogging is a derivative of the number of people visiting and critiquing it, then aren’t all bloggers essentially asking the question “Is there anybody out there (who reads my blog)?”

Why is this mode of socialization growing at an exponential rate? Are we to categorize these people as lonely people who have been unable to achieve gratification from the so called normal avenues of life and hence are blogging? Are these lonely people, taking refuge in the anonymity being offered by internet to avoid the pains of disagreement which comes with personalized physical human interaction?

Are we all becoming Lonely Anonymous Bloggers?

Anonymity (Part III)

Is the Anonymity offered by the internet a blessing for lonely people, offering them an infinite 24x7 sympathetic audience who is always willing to listen?

Or has this pursuit of anonymity lead people to opt out of other traditional forms of socialization and hence get branded as lonely?

This is for all the lonely people
Thinking that life has passed them by
Don't give up until you drink from the silver cup
And ride that highway in the sky
– America