The silent applause

I read Manu’s post, “Blogs don’t need to be so lonely”, where he also links to the original post by Leon and the follow-up by Jay.

Now I’m part of this chain reaction too. A beautiful example of the community side of blogging. A digital picture of the internet as one giant web, a connection reaching past the physical realm.

But that’s not quite what I want to bring to the discussion. I agree with Manu’s advice about linking and commenting, and I practice it too, yet my thoughts on logliness (from the ancient Latin loglinus) wander elsewhere.

The first thing that comes to mind is that loneliness isn’t a measurement. Someone might feel lonely at a concert with tens of thousands of people. Someone else might sit alone in a hotel room and feel in great company, just by thinking of their book circle back home.

Just because we can’t feel the company doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Just because people don’t upvote, share, or comment on our posts doesn’t mean we don’t have a grateful audience. We may not hear the applause, but that doesn’t mean no one’s watching.

Perhaps it’s the loud rush of modern life that turns silence into loneliness. We’re haunted by validation. Stalked by likes, stats, ratings, follower counts, scores.

Maybe embracing the silence is the group hug we need to feel a little less lonely.

Update: Sacha Chua has written a beautiful follow-up: Writing into the quiet.