Testing, testing 1...2...3
I believe that this is an interesting concept. I have recently read through some blogs of my friends and of people I have chatted with over the years on the internet...It is incredible to me what we will say online that which we never say In Real Life. I have found that people express love, hate, anger, anxiety, etc. so readily and so easily over an instant message or blog, yet we often hold the emotions back when face to face with each other. The fights I have witnessed (or been party to) between people who have never even *met* each other are crazy!
There are a lot of folks who could be considered two-faced, of course, but I wouldn't consider those who are my friends that way, it just somehow never ceases to amaze me what inner faces this internet stuff brings out of us.
All of this is being said in light of the fact that I was on AOL for about five years, but then I discontinued all contact with my "AOL Life" for around four years. Recently, however, I have come back to my internet roots, and I see how the more things change the more they stay the same around here. Things just get more high tech, hence, blogs themselves being new to me.
I guess I could correlate blogs to the movie "What Women Want" or this old "Twilight Zone" episode I saw when I was a kid. In both shows someone could read other people's minds. Can you even imagine being able to walk by any and everyone and be able to hear in your head what they are thinking? In the "Twilight Zone" episode this guy could read anyone's mind whom he looked at as long as he had his walkman headphones on. Maybe that is what a blog is: a virtual twilight zone enhanced walkman headphone.
Back to my being amazed: I understand keeping a journal. It's a great idea. If you've ever been in therapy, that's the first thing they say, "Start a journal of all your deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings." Well, maybe they don't add the deepest, darkest part. But, a journal is private, right? It's a way to vent, to heal, to let it all hang out. Usually you don't let anyone else in the world read it (except those you pay to, i.e. that $100/hour therapist), and one would go to great lengths to lock it away because usually our innermost thoughts could hurt feelings of those near and dear to us.
So, with the blog phenomenon, the way is paved for the entire world to read this private journal. How ironic is that? I realize that there are the funny blogs, the witty blogs, the insightful blogs, the random rambling blogs of all sorts, but a lot that I have read are actually the results of true pondering. This includes musings over acquaintances, friends, and family, although not necessarily always things you would want them to know.
Why then do we all seem fascinated by and willing to take the chance of someone we blog about coming across all this ranting and raving in our posts? When we make our cute little blog pages, don't we all want to share them with our friends? But, then won't there have to be some self censorship concerning those we have given the link to our blog? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a "journal"?
Well, like I said, I found myself intrigued, so my first blog is about being amazed by blogs. As I keep up with this, we will see how deep into my mind I am willing to delve for all the world of bloggers to be able to read.
