Social Media and hysteria

I've been at home with two sick kid for a week now - need I say more!

In between wiping snotty noses and making play dough I get to browse the web. Usually I look for information on gifted children and Aspergers. I compare stories like the previous post to my son and look for correlations. Most of the time I breathe a sigh and think - "well, at least he's not that bad!".

I like autobiographies or diaries - real people in other words. People who blog about their lives - especially parents. This week a friend of mine pointed my attention to the Nerdy Apple Bottom who managed to get the attention of the whole world.

It was quite unintentional - she just had an experience, vented it on her blog and woops she ended up on CNN!

Personally I'm quite amazed at the hysteria it seems to have caused. A five year old boy wants to dress up as Daphne for Halloween and the world goes apeshit.

Another blogger who manages to stir a lot here in Norway is Trine Grung (TG for short). TG is quite the social butterfly - vivacious and very confident (but then again ego is a fragile thing). She has a lot of opinions about everything and nothing. She's not the intellectual type (that's an understatement) and she seems to be under constant correction from the academic fraternity. All of it is neither here nor there.

TG works hard to get her blog out there - social media consultant and all that jazz. I don't think she has made CNN yet although she was on 'Operah' once.

Touch on a polarized topic unwittingly or not and you have the eyes of the world on you. Isn't modern technology amazing!

Personally I think it's a wonderful thing to be able to read about other people's lives and how they deal with their challenges. I don't always agree with their course of action but I might find it interesting non the less.

Some folk seem to think that if you want to post an opinion on health, politics or religion then you need to have a PhD on the subject. Personally I don't believe that a PhD should be a prerequisite for posting an opinion on a blog. I quite enjoy reading the opinions of the 'uneducated'.

As a reader it is my prerogative to read what I like and disregard what I don't like.

Blogging has indeed become the 'journalism' of the 21st century.

"By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. – Oscar Wilde