The idea of blogging has always alluded me. For years now, I have come across thousands of blogs ranging from insightful to delightful, general to specific, and mind blowing to mind numbing.

As the son of a writer and a teacher, one would assume that this medium is a perfect fit for me. It is an avenue for sharing ideas, something inherent in my parents’ professions and a constant occurrence in our home. However, this has not shown to be the case … It’s 2015, decades into the internet age and I am typing the first blog post of my life. Why is this?

Born in 1988, I am also in that small group of Generation Y perfectly positioned for the Internet Age. Those born between (roughly) 1985 and 1990 were old enough to have gone through the necessary, interpersonal development that is only gained through human interaction [before the internet age]. But, at the same time, were still young enough [when the internet age started] to mature with the cyber boom.

We entered the world in a small window of time that allowed us to be both old- and new-school.

We still have patience. We learned to wait until mom could drive us to Blockbuster for our favorite movies, instead of streaming them from any location whenever we wanted.

Our imaginative capabilities weren’t halted. “Make believe” was what made us firemen, princesses, athletes or soldiers. Now, children can make a fireman or princess avatar, then guide them through a “make believe” world without really using their imagination at all.

We appreciate nature; a sunny day was meant to be spent outside.

We were the last to understand the courage it takes to approach someone face-to-face and make a friend.

At the same time we were the “messaging” pioneers. We were able to morph human interaction from something that took effort and time investment into a few strokes on a keyboard. We were the first to utilize the power of text messaging and are the creators of the communicative urgency that marks our society today. We were the first in human history to regularly publish arbitrary events of a normal day via AIM’s “away messages”. We even invented our own language of acronyms and abbreviations. IMO.

So getting back to my original question … If I am the child of a writer and an educator and grew up in the communication age, then why haven’t I participated in this one specific form until now?

My generational partition is one that still learned to appreciate long form texts, so interest isn’t the problem. We were also the first group of people to become universally tech savvy, so it’s not too complicated for me.

By all intents and purposes I should have been on this blogging bandwagon before now, but wasn’t. Why is that?

Because blogging is “gay”.

At least, that’s how my generational partition would typically describe it.

When looking at our unique development (consisting of chat rooms and social media profiles), there is absolutely no logic to having this position about blogs. But, it’s true … Most of my contemporaries think blogging is really gay.

Disclaimer: It is important to note that I obviously mean the colloquial form of “gay”. I know what you’re thinking, “But you’re from Texas! And you’re saying ‘gay’! It’s still stereotypical…” My response to that is that not everyone in Texas is a bigot and most of the state would support legalization of gay marriage. So how about YOU stop stereotyping. Bigot.

Anyways, I can all but guarantee that most of my contemporaries – who post, text, tweet and Instagram every stupid, fucking thing in their lives – do not keep a regular blog. As a matter of fact, I can think of about three people I know that even have a blog. And I would be willing to bet, that the second I tell some of my friends about Monty Carlos, they will say I’m stupid and being gay.

I think one of the stigmas of blogging is that it is an extension of keeping a diary. Which is essentially a record of our emotions. Unfortunately, this concept of expressing one’s emotions is still seen as slightly effeminate (it is even more unfortunate that anything effeminate is connected to being gay).

Another antagonistic force working against blogging is that it does not appeal to the partition of Gen Y that followed us: those born after 1990 (probably the heaviest users of the internet). Blogging is long-form, and anything over 140 characters is too wordy for this group of technocrats.

Maybe it’s just because blogs can be extremely focused, serving as de facto forums for antiquing or cat-centric interest groups. Even simpler it could be that since blogs can be written by anyone and are often pathetic displays of the English language, some people just immediately discredit them.

Whatever the reason, blogs carry a stigma.

At the same time, blogs are everywhere and most would agree that they are a significant media form. Most of our favorite news organizations started as blogs (i.e. Huffington Post), and blogging has created an army of “writers for hire”; all of which can make a wave in the zeitgeist with just one post.

Blogs can now be cited in most of academia. It is a democratizing information tool; no longer is the publishing of opinions and ideas limited to those with Journalism and Creative Writing degrees. Anyone who can read and write can also publish (5 years ago this sentence would have contained, “and also had an internet connection” which is hardly a qualifier today).

Even more interesting is the staying power of blogs. This technology is – in today’s terms – ancient.

In 2015 I am not making a screen name and am social media-ed out. I hardly ever write non-work related emails and stopped following celebrities on twitter years ago. Yet, here I am, 20 years after their advent, writing my first blog post.

So what is it?

Why in the world did I feel the need to start Monty Carlos?

Because like me and my contemporaries, internet communication has grown up a bit. Cyber space is not just a neat idea that we tinker with, but a cornerstone of contemporary life.

It isn’t about whether you will communicate over the internet but how you will. The cyber footprint that you leave actually matters.

Employers read the tweets and posts of potential new hires. Your personal pictures actually help tell your story. The FBI’s number one source for looking into leads is now Facebook.

Hundreds of years from now, historians will not go to court houses or public records to learn about us; they’ll just search Google.

This being said, I believe that there is more to me than my profile pictures and online shopping tendencies. There is more going on in the world right now than cats, Instagram whores and search history. Political opinion and philosophical discussion about our time require more than 140 characters.

This is how records will be kept – on the internet – so I want my record and my thoughts to reflect the real me, and not the internet me. I am more than a selfie.

I am Monty Carlos … Even if that’s gay.