Day #3 Is it all self-indulgence?

I would like to be writing about how much richer my day has been because of how creatively I have filled the time I would have otherwise been spending on watching or listening to or reading the news.  I can say truthfully that I did not engage in news-gathering today and that my time was spent well, aside from some mundane working for a living.

Today, what over-shadows my small, personal, struggle with obsessive news gathering are questions about whether this entire experiment is an exercise in self-indulgence.  The issue of the indulgent nature of this blog has been raised by several people whom I hold in high esteem.  Okay, one of the people who used the "I" word is a total maniac, but I love him like a brother so I can't just ignore him.

So while I should be wrestling with the issues of News-Withdrawal, I am forced to come to terms with the nature of self-indulgence and blogging.  I have to agree that any personal blog, by its very nature, runs the risk of being self-indulgent or narcissistic.  Does anyone really care about someone else's travels or struggles and is the very act of making those travels or struggles public self-indulgence?  In the pre-blogosphere past, many people kept journals or corresponded with other people and sometimes those journals or letters were saved.  If those persons later became famous, their journals or letters would be collected and published to the delight of historians and sometimes the reading public as well.  If the journals or correspondence or memoir (what is more indulgent than a memoir?) were interesting enough, or informative enough, or shocking enough, then we the readers tended to forgive much.

I see a blog as being a journal or collection of thoughts that is made public on the web.  The personal thoughts and feelings, insights or lack thereof, are cast out in a public forum.  If the contents of a blog are funny or insightful or thoughtful or entertaining on a consistent enough basis, that blog will be discovered, read and then recommended to others.  If not it will just be more chaff on the web.

If I can write about my news withdrawal with humour or insight, or hold a reader's interest for a few minutes, perhaps I can avoid the inherent trap of self-indulgence.  I certainly do no think today's post will qualify, however.  I received other comments and feedback today which were positive or supportive but I have spent the bulk of this post walking dangerously close to defensiveness.

It is only day three of my little experiment.  This process is important to me and I am trying to be scrupulously honest about it.  I hope that the people who take the time out of their busy days to read this, if anyone does, find something in it that is worthwhile.  Should my little blog about my news-withdrawal prove to be without value or humour or insight, I know that I will hear about it in short order.

At any rate, I have made it through the day without the news and the world seems to have made it through the day without my guidance or oversight.  And now I have reading to do and music to play and tomorrow is another day.