The Blog of 9dragonz

The one thing I don't like is that people tend to be 'clicky'. We group up and form little safe bubbles of 'people' and separate from other 'bubbles' of people or stragglers.

I'm a straggler. I just don't ever end up getting mixed into any of the clicks or 'bubbles' as I've just now come to label it! And it drives me nuts that even on websites, it feels like there's still bubbles - everywhere you go! You can't seem to get away from it.

Like some big popularity contest. Whoever has the most people in their bubble wins. And most sites encourage this type of behavior by tallying your number of friends, your 'prizes' for this or that, and so forth.

It's like we constantly have to label and group everything! Including ourselves. Whatever happened to just being people? Being individuals with a lot in common but not feel the need to separate ourselves by those common things or by our differences?

I've joined a couple of 'support' websites for some heavy issues I've been facing in my life and I found myself feeling as if I didn't 'belong' because everybody on the site already seemed to know every body else! There was like this small group of domineering members (and I don't mean they were domineering 'people') that were posting all the time and responding to eachother with comments that kept referring to inside knowledge. And the newbies were just kind of left out to dry unless we worked to forge our way into the group.

At a time when I was feeling anything but 'strong' and 'outgoing' and just needed a place to go to find some support and learn about others experiences, etc. - I just felt like I had to work too hard to even participate. And I'm not someone who is going to spend every day on line, on a site posting and replying. So that just added to how far I didn't belong!

It was like walking into a bar and you run into the 'regulars' and they basically run the joint - only this joint is a cyberjoint and comes in the form of websites and chat rooms and so forth.

So far I like EP because of all the various stories and experiences that people are sharing but it's hard to connect to anyone unless I'm going to spend all my time here and really work on 'making' it happen and I don't have the time to do that. I have a real life I'm living, too, and that comes first. This is just a place to escape to for awhile.

I'd like to connect to others but not when I feel like I have to force my way into their bubble or create a bubble of my own! I just want to find a place where you can come and go and everyone's welcome and there's no 'inside' jokes or knowledge that is referenced in the general 'playground' shall we say. Go off and have a private conversation if you want to but when you are with the mass keep it open and inviting for everyone who happens to be there that day or at that moment and not just for the regulars that seem to live and breath the sites!

Okay - that's my two cents for today! Off to the mall with my daughter for a bit of materialistic indulging!