Please forgive me for making an honest and heartfelt observation . . .

As those of you who know me know, I don't get out on the weblog scene much. There are so many Catholic weblogs out there that seem to draw a steady readership, and when I hear them mentioned or see them cited, I feel ignorant because I have either never heard of them or I have heard of them but never visited.

In any case, my admitted weblog ignorance aside, when it comes to a few I've sampled recently, I have to confess my astonishment at the sheer quantity of postings that individual webloggers throw out there in a single day.

I mean, whoa! . . . a few of them, and they will remain nameless, seem to live on their computers. And that makes me wonder what kind of lives they have beyond the computer screen. I truly mean that in a sincere, fraternal, Christian way.

A few of the Persistent Posters I've sampled in recent months seem to do nothing but toss off an endless stream of entries on their weblogs. What about family time? (Some are married, others, it seems, are not, but I sometimes am tempted to fear for the wellbeing of the families of some of these incessant commentators.)

What about prayer time? What about reading? What about human interaction that takes place in real-time, face-to-face, and not via pixels over a high-speed Internet connection? What about just plain doing something, anything, other than sitting parked in front of one's computer monitor, cranking out an uninterruptible cascade of news items, real and attempted witticisms, and commentary that is sometimes useful, sometimes marginal, and sometimes pure blather?

I guess my point is this: As Catholics, we're called to be "universal" men and women; well-rounded, complete, balanced, and integrated. I must admit, especially in recognition of my own weaknesses and human frailties, that it concerns me when I see fellow Catholics who seem to have very little life outside of their weblogs. And that, whether they see it or not, is sad.

Please don't misunderstand my point. Weblogs can be good and helpful and, at times, even profoundly beneficial channels of insight and information. And besides, they're fun and often highly entertaining. Again, I speak as one who enjoys the ability to communicate ideas and commentary immediately in this medium. I don't hold myself apart from or above the hoi paloi of webloggers on this one -- I'm right in the midst of this weblog phenomenon myself. 

But what concerns me is how, at least in some of the cases I alluded to above, some of these weblogs seem to have become an almost cyborgian extension of their masters, as if the weblogger would no longer fully exist if it were not for that digital platform.

Maybe I'm offbase on this. Perhaps I'm just experiencing a fleeting moment of pique. Or, as I wonder, maybe this reaction of mine is evidence that I am bumping into the vague outline of a truth, something to do with not allowing ourselves to become entangled in something that, while completely good in itself, can subtly and under the guise of well-meaning do-goodism feed a hidden narcisism.

By God's grace, let's never let ourselves lose sight of the fact that these weblogs were made for man; man was not made for weblogs.