Writing a blog can be helpful for many reasons. Here are some of the reasons to start a blog.
Learning by Explaining
I can speak from experience: when I want to learn something, I often try to talk to others and explain the topic I’m currently studying.
This helps ensure that I really understand it. Why? Because if the person I'm explaining it to doesn’t understand, I know I still have more to learn.
What Does This Have to Do with Blogging?
The connection between "learning by explaining" and "blogging" for me is that blogs often explain topics in simple terms so that a wide audience can understand what the author is trying to convey.
For example, when I’m working on a Next.js project and trying out TailwindCSS for the first time, I’ll look for blogs where people use TailwindCSS to create different components.
This helps me expand my knowledge. While many turn to AI or Stack Overflow for help, I think of it like choosing to read the news in a newspaper, on TV, or on social media. It’s all basically the same information; the difference is that one format might be easier to understand than the others. This doesn’t mean that I don't use AI or StackOverflow! In fact, I'm using AI right now to help me write this blog :D
Conclusion: why did I start a blog?
TL;DR: Because I can, and I want to try it out.
But I also think it’s important to have an audience to share my insights with. While I could use social media, a blog allows me to maintain control over my content. If I want to discuss sensitive topics, I can—but that’s not my primary motivation. The biggest reason is what I explained above: it’s a way for me to look back at what I’ve learned. If I forget something I once knew, I can return to my blog and relearn it in a way that’s enjoyable. Another reason is that it allows me to track my progress. It makes me happy to see projects I did years ago, when I knew very little, and to compare them with what I can do now. Seeing how far I’ve come (and how much I still have to learn!) is exciting.