I enjoy browsing personal blogs and small personal websites. There’s something fascinating about deep diving into the worlds of complete strangers, whose small corners of the web I stumble upon while wandering across our beloved world wide web, through the magic of serendipity.
I like these moments when I’m comfortably settled at my desk or on the couch, in front of my computer, quietly reading blog posts I’d saved for later, while also discovering new ones by following interesting links.
From one website to another, I read posts and explore pages, written and created by people who, through their words and photos, reveal glimpses of their personalities, habits and daily lives.
This is slow reading at its finest: taking time to absorb, reflect, and genuinely connect with someone’s words, rather than the quick consumption and instant forgetting that come with social media feeds with their imposed algorithm-driven content.
I really enjoy those little escape sessions where I take my time to read thoughts and stories, sometimes slices of life, from people in other countries, from other cultures, with everyday lives disconnected from mine. Through regular reading, these complete strangers gradually become familiar through their words. Over time, it feels like dropping by to catch up with someone I know. I sometimes even catch myself saying a blog’s name or a blogger’s first name out loud. “Hey! How about checking out so-and-so’s blog? It’s been a while!”
Most of what I read is about simple moments and anecdotes, sincere thoughts, posts about topics their authors are interested in and enjoy sharing. Sometimes it’s deeper and more serious, but in every case, these are words written and published thoughtfully and authentically, and that’s what I’m looking for.
When I’m about to embark on a “blog reading session”, I usually have two approaches. Either I open my RSS reader of choice and scroll through posts, reading those that catch my attention. Or, and that’s by far my favorite way, I open my bookmarks folder on my browser and visit blogs, one by one. I prefer visiting the blogs directly because, unlike RSS posts that all look the same in the reader, each website has its own personality. Some of them are real creative gems. It feels a bit like stepping into someone’s virtual home.
I’ve bookmarked and subscribed to many blogs, and I keep discovering interesting people through their digital homes. I have listed some of them on my Blogroll page. I highly recommend them.