Feb
20
Posted on 02-20-2008 at 10:45am
If Only We Had Letter Jackets & Class Rings
Filed Under (Opinion) by Malia Carden on 02-20-2008

In conversations with bloggers, I’ve heard more than once, blogging being compared to high school. This has always bothered me some since I really didn’t enjoy high school, well, at the least the being in school part of it! (And I’ve always said that I married the best part of my high school experience!) But I do enjoy blogging and think it’s absolutely fabulous! How can blogging be anything like high school?

However, If I’m really honest with myself about how blogging has turned out for me, it is eerily similar to high school. I wasn’t “popular” in high school but I wasn’t unknown either. I didn’t get invited to all the cool parties but I still had an active social life. I wasn’t a one of the smart kids, I just hung around them enough to be a fairly good poseur. See what I mean?

That being said, Michelle is really cracking me up (and making me cringe a bit) with her post about the top 10 reasons blogging is like high school. She really hits the proverbial nail on the head with all of them but here’s a sampling to get the ball rolling:

10. When we are new to blogging, it is much like the first day at a new school. We are standing there in the cafeteria with our tray looking for a friendly table where we can sit. We don’t dare sit at the cool table (read: commenting on a Big Blogger’s site) so we find a corner that seems friendly and start there.

9. It is best to show up every day. Yes, you can blog sporadically but if you want to have readers, they expect content.

8. Cliques are alive and well. We all have our best blogging friends and we stick together. It is difficult to enter a new corner of blogland and feel welcome.

I’m sure #8 will hit some nerves as I’ve seen that very argument come up here on this site. You’ll have to go check out her list out to see the #1 reason why blogging is like high school, which is spot on in light of several comment threads I’ve witnessed and been a part of over the last several months.

So, is she right? Do you feel as though you’ve stepped back in time? (Assuming you’re not still high school. I think we have at least one blogger that comes around here that still is.) Or has your online experience been “night and day” compared to to your high school experience? Come sign my yearbook and let me know!

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Comments

Frank on 20 February, 2008 at 11:09 am #

Hey, somebody tripped me and stole my lunch money…..


Phil Wilson on 20 February, 2008 at 11:15 am #

that was me. Make sure to bring twice as much tomorrow.


mark on 20 February, 2008 at 11:23 am #

you nailed it great to this site about number 8. also one thing you forgot. there are bullies in the blogging world too


Jim Voorhies on 20 February, 2008 at 11:56 am #

Phil, you want to trade lunches?


badbadivy on 20 February, 2008 at 12:03 pm #

We should totally have a blogger prom. :D


Lesley on 20 February, 2008 at 12:07 pm #

Mark–you’re right about the bullies. Though just like high school, sometimes I’m the bully and sometimes I get bullied. And it doesn’t feel any better 20 years later! :)


W on 20 February, 2008 at 12:08 pm #

Bah. You hear that about most social groups with something in common. Offices, hobby clubs, bloggers. It’s not that those places are like high school, its that high school is just the first best indicator of group dynamics.


Claudia on 20 February, 2008 at 12:52 pm #

if i only knew back in high school what i know now…


saraclark on 20 February, 2008 at 12:57 pm #

So who’s going to go all “Carrie” on us? That’s what I want to know.

Zombie Prom, totally.


badbadivy on 20 February, 2008 at 1:05 pm #

I bet we can get ‘Coma to be Carrie. Heh.


Christian on 20 February, 2008 at 1:38 pm #

Now, that would require we all conspire to vote her Blog Prom Queen so we could douse her with pig’s blood. But who would be Blog Prom King?


badbadivy on 20 February, 2008 at 1:55 pm #

But who would be Blog Prom King?

Glen Dean.


Lynnster on 20 February, 2008 at 2:08 pm #

LMAO! Snicker.


Malia Carden on 20 February, 2008 at 2:26 pm #

OMG! Y’all are seriously cracking me up!!

And W, that’s a very good point. I’d really not thought of it that way before.


Slartibartfast on 20 February, 2008 at 4:13 pm #

W has it. Go to your 20 year high school reunion, and tell me if you don’t see these 30-something people split into the same groups they did 20 years prior.

We fool ourselves when we say we’ve transcended all of that.

You want cliques, bullies, freaks, jocks, rebels and gossip? Join a church. Some things are innately part of human behavior.


W on 20 February, 2008 at 4:27 pm #

Phew. I was starting to feel pressure to crack a joke. Glad Slarti came by.


Michelle on 20 February, 2008 at 7:58 pm #

Thanks for the linky love Malia.

And I have to agree with W. I remember in grad school my group counseling class had us write a paper on the stereotypical group archetypes using The Breakfast Club as the model.


Newscoma on 20 February, 2008 at 9:24 pm #

I’m Prom Queen as Carrie?

I’M IN!!!
But, not throwing tampons at me. That just wigs me out. I can deal with the pig’s blood though.


Eric on 21 February, 2008 at 9:52 am #

Slarti,

hahaha!! That’s so funny! But, sadly, it’s true. I’ve never thought of blogging like this…I guess I’m still the “intellectual nerd” who is in the classes with all the “high school elites” but doesn’t get invited to their parties…LOL!


peach on 21 February, 2008 at 10:03 am #

Hello, wanna be in a blog book?

http://peacharse.blogspot.com/2008/02/youre-not-only-one_10.html