Is there any privacy left in blogging?

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Before anyone jumps the gun, this piece is not a crtique or reply to anyone, just something I have been meaning to write for a long time and its time has come. I think I will start this post by a quote from Daniel Craig (better known as the hunk who does James Bond) "You can't buy it back - you can't buy your privacy back." He was speaking of - who else? - The Kardashian (specifically Kim),.

Let's face it, we are all exhibitionists to a certain degree, and even those who hide in their own shells, perhaps secretly do such a behavior so as for people to look at them and inquire about them. I am not a very social person, but those I let into my inner sanctum know I am a relatively funny guy, very approachable, the butt of my own joke, and with all the cataclysms that hit me since 2010 I remained publicly mum about them, kept sharing the posts that are relevant to my readership (yes, I obliquely referred to some issues, even had a cryptic post which was dressed up in a different sauce, but never alluded or revealed what the ordeals were).

I find other bloggers more forthcoming in that respect. "I dressed my offspring from so and so shop", "this is my son/daughter's first birthday", "I am on my honeymoon and have had so and so for breakfast", "this is us on vacation in whatever resort" and the list continues. Once more, before anyone thinks I am launching a critique against anyone I can safely tell you I enjoy Tala's blog and think her preparations for marriage and her honeymoon adventures at Primark were classics.

But perhaps my main question is - are your private ramblings compatible with your blog and what it stands for and what the audience expects of you? Or maybe - and this is a question to myself - does anyone even care and I am making a storm in a tea cup?

I mean, seriously, does it matter if my face is not plastered everywhere on social media (a critique I often get about my Instagram page which - gasp! - does not contain selfies)? Or my nephews and niece do not get free clothing from brand X to exhibit it on my pages? Is it a seismic shift if people are not aware of deaths, births, marriages and turmoils in my private life?

Actually, I think it matters if my blog is centered around this - ex: a blog about the life of a divorced Lebanese woman (I'd eat that one up!), or the adventures of a job-seeking fresh graduate so that everything on the blog revolves around this. Or, as in Tala's case, the musings of a woman pre and post-marriage. But when you are supposed to cover other topics and you delve into specifics, I find this odd in terms of approach. But hey, I said it before, we are all exhibitionists to some degree - some of us more than others.

And perhaps, as bloggers, we are "expected" to do this - so that some of us fall in line with the expectations more than others. A very, very, rich friend of mine told me around a decade ago "in the future, the ultimate luxury will be privacy". I think we reached that point.