Wednesday, August 23, 2006

The face of reality

This thought has recently came to my mind -

Why the heck do people want to blog?

Now, there were a couple of reasons that came to mind.

1) The need to vent our frustrations, our feelings, or just some idle thoughts that won't go away.. Basically, it's another form of self expression.

2) Some of us like to talk cock. So, in the absence of friends whom we can talk cock to/with, we resorted to the seemingly next best thing - we write cock. In other words - BORED (and very idle)

3) To share information with others (namely, the world-wide-web of netizens, or anyone who is connected to an internet). e.g. some blogs specialise in certain topics, and acts as a sort of focus-group forum

4) To assume an alter-ego. Or, to put it plainly, a net-personality. To be that someone whom we aspire/hope to be, but due to certain reasons or circumstances, we fail to become in the 'real' life. e.g. some people are just naturally better writers than speakers. They don't convey their feelings across very well when it comes to face-to-face interactions, but when you put them behind a desk, with pen & paper (nowadays replaced by a keyboard and monitor), they suddenly transform into Mr/Ms. Personality-of-the-Year.

5) .... can't think of it at the moment.

Anyway, reason why i'm thinking about this topic is simple. Someone just asked me why i blog. I was stumped for a short while, then i gave the most obvious (to me) reason that came to my mind - it feels good doing it! But go one step deeper, and asked WHY does it feel good, I could only think of Reason (2) . (see above)

Actually, if you think about it, an internet Forum roughly serve the same purposes right? You can start a thread about any topic under the sun, and get your friends and virtual buddies to jump in and contribute. It also acts as an arena for self-expression and there's more interaction between the forumers.

To which, some people woud say,
Yeah, but the blog is more personal. It's an online diary, of sorts...

Yes well, blogging does give you more virtual "space" to spout your nonsense. It's like you are the Dungeon Master of your own user-defined D&D game. You set the rules, you lay out the boundaries, and you are in-charge of what goes in and what comes out (e.g. if you don't want comments, you can suppress them or moderate them).

But the part about it being a "diary"... i have to disagree. It is -not- a diary. IMHO, a diary is something really personal. It is somewhere you can pour your innermost feelings and unsuppressed thoughts onto a medium (may or may not be paper nowadays, of course). It would contain things that you would NOT expect others to know about, to read about, to learn about. You darkest secrets, your desires, lust, hatred, love - can all be laid bare onto your personal diary. But can it be done on your blog?

At best, the blog is just another 'face' which you want the public (including your closest friends and family) to see. It may reveal some aspects of your life, and allow a glimpse into the blogger's personality. But only a true idiot would lay out all his cards on a blog. That, at best, might lead to extreme embarrassment and social issues with his circle of friends/colleagues. At worst, it could land him in jail.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home