My theory on the blogging craze

So I'm sure you are all aware of this blogging craze that has taken over our world? Every man and his dog writes a blog (well maybe the dog doesn't) but it seems everywhere you look people are writing blogs, even  me!  There are millions of blogs to follow and just not enough time in our lives to read them all.  I love blogging, I love seeing all the 'Mummy Bloggers' being successful and making an actual living from them.  Its truly inspiring.  I would love to do that myself one day but at this point in my life I don't feel I have enough to say or even the time to write it so I'm happy tapping out a blog that I try to do every few weeks.

I was thinking about all the 'Mummy Bloggers' I know and it made me think about how lucky we are to live in a world that is so connected by social media.  We are able to create friendships through Twitter and Facebook, through joining blogs and communicating with people we never would have had the chance to do without these forums.  We can find real friends and support groups and we have access to endless amounts of advice and knowledge not available to previous generations.

Thinking of this made me think of my 68 year old mum and what her life was like when she was in her 30s and 40s.  I'm truly amazed that she managed to get through it so well without the support of a lot of friends or family.  She had no internet, no mobile phone, not many good friends and my dad was hardly around as he traveled a lot and played golf a hell of a lot too.  My mum worked part time and took me to dancing 4 times a week and my brother to football 3 times a week.  She had dinner on the table every night, ironed like a mad woman, looked after a dog, 2 cats and at one stage a horse and I can never remember her complaining once!  The problem was, my mum was lonely, so lonely in fact that she ended up having an affair with the man who owned the petrol station near our house.  This affair rocked our family to the core once it was found out and I remember my father sobbing in front of me (who was probably 9 at the time) and me having no clue what it all meant.  Looking back now I know that my mother was not the only one to blame, as I said my father was not around much, lived the life style most men in the 70's lived, worked, played golf, stayed at the club till late.  I can't blame my mum for looking for attention elsewhere.

What I'm wondering is, if my mum had social media around back then, would she have had an affair or would she have found attention in a different way like so many of us seem to do these days?  Having the guidance of 300 or so Twitter followers may have stopped her from taking the plunge. Reading other women's experiences in their blogs may have given her the courage to talk to my dad before she strayed. Talking to close friends on Facebook may have given her the support she needed to make some changes in her life that were definitely needed.  I guess we will never know but I do feel that having these forums does help millions of people think twice before making life changing decisions.

Back in the 60s and 70s women's lives were so different especially once they married and had children.  Stay at home mums stayed mostly at home.  Of course some were lucky enough to have friends and were able to go out and do lunch occasionally but in general a lot of women were lonely and bored.

Now we have endless opportunities to be entertained at home, we can blog, we can cruise the web, we can chat online, we can Skype, we can study, we can build our own little empires, the list is endless.  Who would honestly have time to have an affair?  I'm so inspired by women who do any or all of these things and still run a household, bring up children, work in a normal job and still manage to be healthy and happy.

Of course there is the other side of the coin where women who are unhappy at home get caught up in social media forums, get sidetracked by the cyber world, take chances they may not have taken before, neglect the important people in their real lives because they want to escape it.  Sometimes facing our own unhappiness is the hardest thing to do and hiding in our internet world helps us get through the daily grind.

Whatever it is that tickles your fancy as far as social media is concerned, I think it pretty much goes without saying that the women of today are a hell of a lot better off than our mothers and grandmothers because of the affect that it has on our lives and because of all the millions of 'Mummy Bloggers' who take the time to share their knowledge and experiences.

Anyway, the story ends well for my beloved mum, after 2 years of heartache and confusion my parents packed up our lives and moved to Queensland for a fresh start and I'm happy to report they are still together.  Now that is truly amazing!

If you write a blog that you think I should read, let me know, I would love to!

Love ya guts
Katie