Private or Public?
One of the reasons I enjoy keeping a journal is the privacy allowed within the pages. I can be boring, write badly, rave and rant, if I want to and no one else needs to know. If I write the same in a personal blog I can never permit myself to be so banal.
Is this the same for you? Do you keep an online journal/blog? How much do you reveal?
This entry was prompted by reading Mark Savage’s column at BBC News. In particular this part caught my eye:
“What personal bloggers are writing is more than a diary, it is a diary which is read instantaneously by scores, if not thousands, of people, as Anna Pickard is only too aware: “It is easy to forget sometimes that this is a very public forum. You start to think of it as ‘Yeah, this is my private diary.
“This is my space. This is my group of friends. Oh, I know who’s reading this’.”
The reverse is true: “You don’t know who’s reading this. You never know who’s reading this. So you do have to be careful.”
Does the thought of possible millions reading your entries stem how much information you reveal? I know I write differently for an audience. Are you currently writing your journal for your children to read when you’re gone? Do you share your private entries with the world in a blog? Share your thoughts, and personal blogs if you like, in the comments section below.
Tags: journal-writing-privacy, personal-blogs, published-journal-entriesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: General: Journal Writing
4 opinions for Private or Public?
Mike
Aug 28, 2006 at 8:38 am
Let’s face it. Nobody using a blog as an online diary that isn’t actively promoting their site is getting more than a handful of people to read their site. That is a far cry from millions of people.
But, even though only a handful of people read most of my stuff, if there is one person that I don’t want to read it, I won’t write it online.
Olivia
Aug 28, 2006 at 3:57 pm
I write in a private journal just for myself, and I do blog much differently, always aware that anyone or everyone could read my online blog. However, I am trying to become more and more transparent with my online blog, and working on moving away from sounding like an authority (since the blog is from me as a life coach and energy practitioner) to just being me, and being real. However authentic my online blog becomes, though, there will be things I would NEVER put up there…or tell anyone for that matter…those go in my private journals. I don’t intend to pass them along to anyone…they’re just for me.
I really do enjoy having both venues to write in!
Heather Goldsmith
Aug 29, 2006 at 6:27 am
Yes, Mike, I was using the exaggeration to provoke. ;-)
But I do agree. There are certain things I will not reveal online. Perhaps more people should stick with that advice. Thanks for your comment. ;-)
Heather Goldsmith
Aug 29, 2006 at 6:30 am
Thanks for your comment Olivia. I think that’s the part we have to work on. Being genuine and real in an online journal is different to hanging it all out for the world to see. We each need to define our own line, but it doesn’t appear to be the same for all. ;-)
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