why keep a public journal?

[cellio]

Yesterday goldsquare asked: Why blog? Why write this way, why write the things you do, why do it here? What does it do for you, what about you makes you wish to do it? and got some interesting responses. This is something I think about, and am curious about, too. Here's what I posted there about why I keep a journal. (I meant to post this here last night but didn't get to it. So while I'm avoiding a tedious, unnecessary meeting, I'll post it now. :-) )


A journal or blog is "pull" technology; people can read it or not, when they feel like it, with no implied demands on their attention. Email, on the other hand, is "push"; I send you email and there is an implicit request to you to read it and perhaps reply. This may sound like a trivial difference to some, but it is at the core of why I keep a journal: I can write things that I wouldn't write in email, because I want to offer them but not impose on people. Sure, when I've posted something I think is interesting or insightful I enjoy getting the comments and am a little disappointed if I don't, but I have no right to expect attention from people.

Because of the mechanism, my entries might be read by people I never would have directly engaged in a conversation on the topic. I have met many interesting new people via comments, and there are overlapping, sometimes-spontaneous sub-communities among my readers. (So even if I were trying to do this via some other means like email, the groupings would be non-obvious.)

A journal lets me write nominally for myself but in public view. As someone who, in face-to-face conversation, often has trouble putting myself forward (don't laugh; it's true!), I find this refreshing. It lets this introvert explore extroversion in a non-threatening way. Obviously if I were doing this entirely for myself I wouldn't post it to the internet, but I find value in having readers (especially when they tell me they're there :-) ).

Why do I write what I write? Occasionally, I've already written it (e.g. a sermon) and I want to both share it and store it with my other writing. Much more often, I have some idea I want to explore, maybe well-developed or maybe not: the mere act of writing helps me solidify my thinking, but if I didn't have a place to post it I might never do that writing. (And, of course, discussions in comments help further.) Sometimes, I've found something funny or strange or news-worthy that I just want to pass on to my friends, but it's not important enough for me to push it out via email. (I'm pretty conservative when it comes to email forwards, because so many people who have my email address aren't.)

Why do it here? I initially got an LJ account to participate in a particular community and read a few friends' journals conveniently. When I started writing I figured I might, maybe, attract 15 or 20 readers, tops. (Heh.) I stay on LJ because of the other people I know here, and because of a couple key features -- most significantly, I think, threaded comments. (Yeah, go ahead and try to make sense of the comment logs on some of the other blog sites. Can't be done.)

Comments

[rani23.livejournal.com]

A journal or blog is "pull" technology; people can read it or not, when they feel like it, with no implied demands on their attention. Email, on the other hand, is "push"; I send you email and there is an implicit request to you to read it and perhaps reply.

You got it on one. That's EXACTLY why I love blogs/journals/etc. more than say email.

[cellio]

It's not either-or; it depends on the content. I get annoyed with people who say "but didn't you know? I posted it on LJ!". If it's something you specifically want me to know, as opposed to something you're inviting me to read if I feel like it, you've got to send email (or talk to me, or whatever). Blogs aren't a replacement for direct communication; they're a way to augment it.

That's a generic "you", not a specific one. I know you have this clue, but a lot of people don't.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've run into a difficulty in social situations, when everyone there (nominally) reads my blog: do I mention things I've written about, or not. On the one hand, I've already written about it, but on the other, that may be what's most interesting to me for chit-chat (this is not the situation you're talking about, with something in particular I should email you to let you know, just general stuff).

[cellio]

That's a challenge, yes. I don't think I've yet been in the situation where everyone nominally reads my journal, but I've definitely been in situations where the majority do.

I try to treat it like any other overlap situation. If I had been at a gathering last week with some of these people and had told the story, would the subset who'd heard it be bored if I told it in this new setting? What if I tell it differently, or with updated information? Can I tell the story (or share the information, or discuss the opinion, or whatever) in a way that will be equally interesting to those who've read it and those who haven't? If so, I'll do it. If not, I'll think about whether I consider it important enough to impose a cost of some repetition, and I'll try to change how I present it and watch for rolled eyes or yawns.

The LJ-inspired social dynamic I find frustrating is where most of the people there have read the same entries and start talking about them (without external hooks), completely oblivious to what they're doing to the listeners who didn't read it. (And if it was a protected entry, shame on them -- it's like talking about a party in front of people who weren't invited to it and might have been interested in going.) LJ isn't the only community that enables this bad behavior; in my experience members of the SCA can be really horrible about this, and we have some local people who Just Do Not Get This. I assume it arises out of other tight-knit communities too; heck, I've seen it a little with my synagogue, where, say, there's a gathering that includes (non-participating) spouses etc, and the conversation turns to the synagogue in a way that's boring for the outsiders. So really it's a human-behavior problem, but LJ is one of the contexts in which I see it.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

I never did post a follow-up on why I blog.

When I was married, we talked. I tried keeping a journal, but I never wanted to talk about stuff that no one could know, I wanted to talk to people and grow closer, and learn something.

I am one of the most extroverted and gregarious people I have ever met.

When my ex asked for a divorce - especially after she moved out of the house - I was living alone for the first time ever. I'd always at least had a pet. But when my daughter was at Mom's, I was alone.

Blogging gave me a way to be with people when I could not be with people. For lack of a more original phrase, it saved my soul.

[cellio]

Thanks. I was hoping you would get around to answering your own question.

Now that you mention it, even though I'm not physically alone there's a similar aspect to some of my writing. Dani and I don't share the same interests, which is perfectly ok, but it does mean I'm not going to talk his ear off about the subset of mine that he's uninterested (as opposed to "not actively interested") in.

[ealdthryth.livejournal.com]

Everything you said plus one. My mom and niece now read my blog and Eldred's blogs to keep up with our lives. That encourages me to write more "my day in summer camp" type of entries. :-)

[cellio]

I don't know if it would make our lives easier or harder if my family read this. :-) (But I know they can.)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Fascinating post. (That's all I have to say.)

[cellio]

Thank you.

good post

[(Anonymous)]

Good post. Rest assured that I will probably refer to it in my blog.

:)

Re: good post

[cellio]

Do I get to know who you are so I can follow the discussion when you do? :-)

Re: good post

[(Anonymous)]

Opps!

Sorry! :)

sowritealready.blogspot.com

[nickjong.livejournal.com]

My reasons for keeping a LiveJournal seem to match yours, point for point. This observation probably shouldn't surprise me. I hope you will not be taken aback if I say that I have long admired your writing.

[cellio]

I'm flattered. Thank you.

I also enjoy your writing. You have a talent for writing about everyday topics in entertaining ways.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I talked a bit about this (http://shewhomust.livejournal.com/61985.html) when my LJ passed its one year old mark: why I started writing here, but also how it had turned out to be different to (and better than) what I had expected.