By Kel 
Does anyone remember the “good ol’ days” of personal blogs? Reading about the random things going on in people’s lives, what their family has been up to, trips they’ve taken etc. Where have they gone?! I miss them!
I suppose you could say that social media replaced all that, and the microbloging stuff. But it’s such a terrible replacement.
This year my goal is to try and cut back on social media. Last year I replaced doomscrolling at night with reading, I turned off all my notifications (except messenger), and this year I’ve created a rule that I can’t read social media in bed. Is it quieter? Calmer? Boring in a good way? Do nights feel longer?
Honestly, I haven’t really missed it that much.
My instagram is full of funny but negative commentary – jokes about work, or politics, or other things. It’s great for a laugh, but at some point you start to feel a bit doom and gloom about the world. Reddit is great for a scroll, but I wouldn’t say my life feels richer for it. Twitter I’ve stayed off since you-know-who bought it, and between that and Bluesky, the only time I return is for the 5 day refresh-a-thon to follow the Barkley Marathon.
The one thing that I’ve missed is reading personal blogs.
Some have faded away
There were blogs that I used to read religiously. They were about their everyday lives, poking fun at it, reminding themselves not to take it all too seriously.
Behind the stories, however, was a darkness. There was alcoholism, addiction, marriage breakdowns, lots of sad things they didn’t feel comfortable sharing.
Some changed tact, became sober, and found a new calling in life through artwork.
Others didn’t have quite the happy ending. It was devastating when Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com fame, arguably one of their first mummy bloggers, took her own life. She had battled publicly with her demons, and ultimately found her peace elsewhere.
Since then, I’ve noticed more and more sites falling quiet. Mine too, with sporadic bursts here and there.
Social media and microblogging became a thing, and then came the rise of tiktok and more video reel type posts.
It all started to feel…lonely?
The magic of a personal blog
The thing is, I love written blogs.
I love finding a blog where you have something common with the writer, whether it’s a hobby like running, or craft, or just generally giving it our best crack at life. I love being exposed to lifestyles and stories that I wouldn’t ever find in my corner of the world. I love having a laugh, or saying “me too” with the chaos of every day life.
Personal blogs feel real. They’re raw, and they’re honest.
So I’m on a campaign to find more personal blogs again.
I’ll be searching the internet, even using good ol’ ChatGPT to make some recommendations, and searching high and low.
And when I find one, I’ll be making an effort to comment, to say to people that hello, I’m here, I appreciate your efforts!
If you know of any blogs that you enjoy, please feel free to drop a link below. Likewise, I’ll start to share any great sites that I find in case anyone is interested.
So to kick this off, let’s start with my three faithfuls – the ones that never quite left my rotation:
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I miss the personal blogs too. Over the years, so many bloggers became actual friends, and I miss hearing their updates. There are a few left, but not many. I’m so glad you found my blog and am excited to follow yours!
I’m so glad we “met” each other through blogs! Blogs have been such a blessing to my life, as have you, my friend!!
So, so grateful to have met you. One day we’ll have that catch up in real life!
I miss the bloggers too. They were far more positive than the social media hateful commentary. I lost weight with some, learned hoe to train for running races, quick recipes & how to navigate some of life up & downs from those who went through them. Glad I found yours.
I totally agree, and I’m so glad you’ve found some amazing blogs! Do you still read any blogs who continue to write? I’d love to discover more.
And thank you so much, I’m glad you’ve found found mine too!
Well, somehow you found my blog (The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist) which feels old-fashioned in a way (though I only started it a few years ago).
Some of my favourites are:
Girl in a Boy House
keeponrunning.net
Runners Fly
ShuBox
Grateful Kae
Harry Times All Jacked Up
Rising*Shining
Life of a Doctor’s Wife
MG Doodle Studio
The Birchwood Pie Project
I could go on and on!
Fantastic, thank you! I’ll go check all of these out. I’m so excited to have a nice long list to look at!
And yes, I’ve only just found your blog recently but I’m really enjoying it! I love your down-to-earth style of writing, and it looks like I found it at the right time – I’m excited to read about your European adventure. Have fun!
Oh my word, you tagged me and I didn’t even know it! I lost you when Bloglovin’ died and am so glad you commented on my blog. I know it was in December, but my life has been a bit hectic and I haven’t been reading or writing much since my flood.
One of my go-to blogs, who is still blogging is Mary Fran at beliefinmyself.com. (I’m way behind on hers, she was writing very regularly.) I think I wrote about missing blogs last fall, I went looking for them too, and found some old ones (started in early 2000s) that still write a little.
I’m really trying this year to engage more with the blogs I love, and so glad you found me again through that. Life has definitely been so hectic for you guys, your last post was wild! Here’s hoping for a calmer month for you.
Thanks so much for the recommendation, I’ll go check it out! I’m loving finding some again, I’ll have to do another post sometime with some of the new ones that I’ve found, there’s some goodies there!