2nd August 2005

Mixed Feelings

Ronni Bennett contributes to a Washington Post story today on older people blogging, Blogging Through The Ages, by Jennifer L. Huget.  Ronni, an author whose focus is on aging, will be interviewed today at 11:30am ET in the paper’s "Live Online" feature.  Andy Borrows, and other bloggers with a focus on getting older, are also linked in the story.

Huget’s article is about older people blogging.  She makes some obvious if arguable points.  For example, she suggests that older people ("Seniors.  Retirees.  Empty-nesters.") have time for blogging that younger people lack. Maybe, but I think that writers will write and I know that there are a lot more younger bloggers than older ones. It’s not a very well written story, and it’s clear that it’s an assignment that doesn’t particularly interest her.  I think my willingness to enjoy the story came to an abrupt halt with her use of a neologism, "elderblog."  I enjoy Andy’s and Ronni’s writing.  But I don’t even want to know what an "elderblog" is.  If that makes me a curmudgeon, so be it.  I have some very mixed feelings about this story.  I’m pleased that bloggers I like are linked in the story, but labeling writing based on the age of the author seems like an opportunity to create yet another discriminatory distinction.

Today when you Google the word "elderblog" there are 216 hits.  Technorati indexes no posts containing that character string.  Let’s do our best to keep the hit count on that word low.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 2nd, 2024 at 7:55 and is filed under Blogging and Flogging- the Zeitgeist of Social Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 9 responses to “Mixed Feelings”

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  1. 1 On August 2nd, 2024, Ronni Bennett said:

    I have similar mixed feelings, Frank, but I’ll hold that back for later…

  2. 2 On August 2nd, 2024, Tamar said:

    Yes. I also think the author of the article did not seem that passionate about the topic. All the more reason for Ronni’s tireless and welcomed writing on the topic. I also cringed at the term “elderblog.” But I love what you say, Frank: “writers will write.”

    I like to see Andy and Ronni “making it” out there! Hurrah!

  3. 3 On August 2nd, 2024, andy said:

    I confess to a naive delight at being linked, although I like to kid myself that such delight is more characteristic of a youthful innocence than anything else! I’ll have to have another look at the article when that feeling of a kid having opened a surprise present has worn off.

  4. 4 On August 2nd, 2024, Ken Camp said:

    Just an observation, Frank. I’ve used that word curmudgeon for many years myself, but you and I are not curmudgeons. The technically correct term would be old fart. And you do know that we achieve that status when our offspring reach their teens. Fart being an acronym for Father’s Against Radical Teenagers.

    The important sideline perhaps being that age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill. ;-)

  5. 5 On August 2nd, 2024, Dean Landsman said:

    Er, what exactly qualifies as “older?” I might point out that blogging, in the very earliest stages, was done by people who are mostly, right about now, in their mid to late 50’s. Right after the very early stages came an onslaught of blogs by emerging young dotcommies.

    And now everyone young and old is at it.

    Curmudgeon doesn’t work, IMHO, since it begins with cur, a word that should always be preceded by the word “loathesome,” as in a friend’s old dog . . .who could do little other than eat, shit, pee, and snarl.

    Hmmm, come to think of it, that accurately describes some people, whether they be old or young. Or somewhere inbetween.

  6. 6 On August 2nd, 2024, Dean Landsman said:

    One more thing: an elderblog is somehow related to an office held by an ordained member, serving on the technical mission of the Digital Church of Connectivity. After each post the elderblogger looks all deep & solemn and says, “Praise the link!”

    Younger supercool youthful church members dig it, and say, “Word up” when they read such posts. But to them, word up means “press here to publish.”

  7. 7 On August 2nd, 2024, madame l. said:

    i gotta focus on getting older. i’m turning tricks…

  8. 8 On August 2nd, 2024, gillian said:

    What I’ve liked about blogging, and reading blogs, is that we all seem to ignore the writer’s age in our vision and opinion about the writer him/herself. At least, while before I would’ve dismissed the ramblings of a 20-year-old as ignorant and uninformed, and those of a 60-year-old as behind-the-times, instead I read the words and find that we all have a commonality, regardless of that number on our birth certificates. Maybe this is a stupid thing to discover, but I’m glad to have found it anyways.

    I agree with Frank, that horrible wordlike object that starts with “elder” and ends with “blog”, let’s kill it. Down with stereotyping bloggers.

  9. 9 On August 2nd, 2024, Winston said:

    Count me in the “old fart” category as Ken Camp called it. I found a quite interesting comment from Ronni in the “Live Online” feature that sums up much of what has been said here and how most of us probably feel:

    “What I most appreciate is that I’m “smarter” than I’ve ever been. There are a lot of mistakes I don’t have to make anymore…”

    And this one is my favorite:

    “…I learned that nothing very interesting happens at the party after about 11PM, so I can leave and get a good night’s sleep without missing anything :-)”

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