Is blogging dead?

See my last post regarding the above issue. I did a google search and found some comments from other bloggers on this issue. Interestingly, most of them were posted within the last few months. Here's a sample:

So, is the Blog dead? Well... no. The Blog will never die, just like reality TV.

is the blog dead? have we outgrown it? worked out our early-twenty-something growing pains in public, and are now busy with the details of the lives we've created? ever since i was a kid, i've had this narrator stuck in my head, this extra voice that put a quick spin on everything i was thinking, seeing, doing - the blog was just the first way i found of working that narrator out of my head and into a format where i don't just look like i'm mumbling to myself. so I'm not folding yet, anyway - i've just had a lot on my mind and it's been hard to focus my thoughts into anything coherent for a while.

Is the blog dead? I hope not. Maybe we could have it frozen like Ted Williams.

the blog may be dead...and the dolphins will be soon too if we keep forgetting to feed them.

Is blogging dead? So it's over now. Dan James thinks the Next Big Thing is cuisine.

In reply: Food is dead, too, Peter. Get with the times.

I hear rock-and-roll is dead too.

Man, I don't feel well for one afternoon and suddenly blogging is dead ;)

No longer being an exciting novelty and being 'dead' are not the same thing. People don't talk about how great the moving picture box is anymore, but only because it's been assimilated into our lives. One can't say that blogging hasn't been overhyped, so naturally there will be a bit of a deflation of interest. People don't call each other on the phone to talk about telephones, for blogging to mature, the main subject of discussion on the vast majority of higher-profile blogs needs to move beyond the art and practice of blogging itself.

"Is blogging dead?" Is it just my perception, or is there a real spate of bloggers deciding to quit or reduce their output? Is the blogging phenomenon over so quickly? Or is this just a pause that refreshes?

I think it's like any new fad...everyone jumps on the bandwagon at first, then a lot get tired of it once the "shine" wears off. That's sort of happened to me. I thought it was cool and wanted to try it. Now, I'm not into it so much and am not really sure why I'm doing it. I think I'll stick around, but I need to rethink stuff. Seems that's what a lot of people are doing.

Life circumstances, personally. When caught in the whirlwind of chaos...i tend not to write. It's also very difficult for me to find the private time to do so. Even though I love writing.

Hmmm... I get the feeling that there are greater and lesser "ebbs and flows". I think blogging is still alive, but we're at an ebb point.

What do you think?