1 I've noticed a lot of people seem to be at work when they blog or comment. I've wondered just how badly that has affected productivity. I'm at home and I know it has a big impact on my productivity, i.e. dishes can wait; laundry can wait; supper can wait, I've got very important things to read and write here. Lucky I have no babies, they can't wait.

2 Sarah,

I managed to blog, comment, and be a professor at the same time. You and I first 'met' during this period. It helped that my office had no Internet connection and I couldn't blog or comment while in the classroom.

Would I have gotten into blogging in the 90s? I don't think so. I ignored politics during that decade which was far more pleasant than the awful Oughties. I wasn't passionate about the Clintons. I didn't like them, but I didn't think they were going to bring about the end of the world either. I actually started an apolitical blog in 2000 (before I had even heard of the term 'blog') but took it down almost immediately.

Then came 9/11, though a whole year passed before I discovered the blogosphere through James Hudnall. I had been too busy teaching in 2001-02 to take note of the outside world. I wanted to forget the jihadis and move on. The trouble is that they won't forget us infidels. Not long after Christmas 2009, Kurt Westergaard (what a name, sounding like guard of the West!) was nearly killed. My eyes are as open as the gates to the West. When will those gates be shut?

3 I used to blog *while* teaching class.  It's what group project time and pop quizzes are for.

I still can't believe how we ever got along without tivo/dvr's.

4 Chuck Z,

I couldn't blog in class because (1) I walked to campus and didn't want to take my laptop with me and (2) my philosophy was that any activity that didn't require me shouldn't have been in the classroom.

I still have no TiVo or DVR!

5 Chris and I were talking about this the other day. Between facebook, texting and blogs, I don't know how I would have got any schoolwork done in college! I was a computer science major - thank goodness I didn't have all those distractions to keep me from my work! I didn't buy my first cellphone until I graduated college and got a job. That makes me sound and feel like an old fogey!

6 I've noticed a lot of people seem to be at work when they blog or comment. I've wondered just how badly that has affected productivity.

Depends on the job. I work as a help desk analyst, so I read blogs in-between calls. As soon as the phone rings I answer it, either resolve the problem or get a ticket opened to the correct group that can resolve it and read while I wait for a new call.

I must admit I do find myself losing track of time at home...