Ken Yarmosh – Product Strategist and Technology Connoisseur

Today’s communication technologies – including cell phones, e-mail, and blogs – can drive users to a heavy sense of guilt. If I were to try and put my finger on it, I’d say it is because we live in a “fast food” culture, where instant gratification is not expected, it is demanded.

But instant access was not necessarily the motivating factor behind the development of these technologies. The point of a cell phone is to give greater mobility for the person making the calls. A byproduct is that mobility can benefit the caller too, because there is a higher likelihood the call will be received.

Blogging removes the constraints of needing to be tech savvy to put information on the web. The point of a blog is to provide a tool for people to easily publish thoughts when they have something to share. Blogs benefit readers because they can encounter new ideas and voices previously unavailable.

Instant gratification changes things though. If someone calls your cell, they expect you to answer it or to call them back immediately. They know you have it with you and that you are doing nothing more important at the momentum of their call – you are just screening them.

Same thing with blogging. In the unlikely event that you are lucky enough to have a consistent and loyal readership, that readership expects you to continually generate new content no matter what the circumstances – and at no cost to them. And oh yeah, they can unsubscribe or give up visiting your site at any moment, so if you suddenly bore them or don’t meet their rigorous content schedule, sayonara.

Over holidays, bloggers will often write content in advance and have it auto-published. Either that or they get guest bloggers to come in and write on their blogs, so they won’t go down in the rankings.

But such a mindset just doesn’t make sense. We need to begin to reclaim the original purposes of technology and that doesn’t include it or the people behind it, to run our lives.

So, I’m doing something bold – in a matter of hours, I will depart for the Olympics for a much needed vacation. My blog will remain completely dormant during that time. No auto-publishing, no guest blogging, no new content. My work e-mail will be left untouched and I won’t be taking calls. As a matter of fact, I’m going to do my best to go as offline as possible (minus personal e-mail communication to family).

And guess what, I’m not going to feel guilty about any of it. That’s not to say that I don’t care about you, my loyal readers. In fact, I am pleased to write that as of this post, I have the highest number of RSS subscribers I’ve seen to date.

If you are willing to sit tight for 10 days or so, great. But if you decide you need to move onto greener pastures, I won’t hold you back.

Technology complements life – it doesn’t supplement it. I don’t live to blog – I blog about living (or in this case, technology).

See you soon,

In my circle of friends, I’m known as ‘the geek’. I’m ‘the blogger’, who doesn’t do any real work, I just blog. More and more of my friends are starting blogs though and it’s not just because of me either.

I’m finding people my age (twenty-somethings) are really getting into blogging. These aren’t business blogs, rather more of the digital diary type (digital diaries that are of course accessible to the world). And these aren’t teenage blogs either, spilling extremely personal details. They are funny, they give insights into the daily routine of life, share thoughts on movies, or even give perspective into relationships. They exemplify the beauty of blogs – make them whatever you want.

Something interesting is happening though, I’m beginning to meet girls who I potentially am interested in, who keep regular blogs.

Back in December, I actually went on a blind date, as a favor to a buddy (i.e., I had no better plans on a Saturday night and a blind date sounded just fine). The important point of this story is that she is a big time Xanga blogger. She told me about her blog during our date and as soon as I got home that night, I looked it up and began reading her entries.

While it was neat that she was a blogger, more significant was the fact that I suddenly got to know her that much better. As bloggers we often read statements like, “I feel like I know you already because I read your blog everyday.” It holds true in other contexts too – dating is one example.

There is a tremendous amount of transparency and trust transferred when someone gives you their personal blog address. Yes, it is accessible to the world, if the world happens to stumble across it. But with 27 million blogs out there (and probably a whole lot more than that), most blogs remain in obscurity, acting only as places that friends or family visit.

It may sound funny but blogging may actually help foster more successful dating relationships. Why? Well just take a look at their blog either before or after a date and you’ll begin to get a pretty decent picture of their beliefs, ideology, and interests. If their blog exists in a social environment like MySpace or Xanga, you can also get a pretty good idea as to who they are “interacting” with on a regular basis – yeah, I’m probably going to stay away from the girl who has tons of comments from other guys, she may be a bit too flirty.

Would I date someone who doesn’t have a blog? Yes, I guess I would. But blogging is attractive. It means the wheels are turning upstairs. It shows that someone is observant, pensive, and engaged in their world.

Rather than eHarmony or Match.com, I’m wondering if blogs could really transform the online dating scene. I imagine if they haven’t already, that services like these might begin to roll blogs into user accounts.

I think I was lucky to meet some beautiful lady bloggers but I hope they weren’t anomalies. Blogs could make dating a whole lot easier for me and many others out there. All you single types, spread the word!