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Blogging As A Form Of Therapy
wellington writes "According to an AOL survey, blogs are more likely to deal with personal matters than politics or current events, and nearly 50% of bloggers see the activity as a form of therapy."
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Tue, Sept 20, 2005
Urge to kill growing.
Must paint town red with blood.
Sun is rising.
Hear birds singing.
Looking nice outside.
Ahh. just what I needed!
What a great day, better go to work!
Wed, Sept 21, 2005
Meter reader coming today.
Sweet flesh in my slow cooker.
Bread in breadmaker smells good.
Too good to taint with meter reader.
Mmm. Maybe I'll go to the store for some blueberry jam.
And a nice walk through the park while I'm at it!
What an awesome day!
Thur, Sept 22, 2005
They have no idea I'm watching them.
They're nothing more than scum to me.
To be decimated like germs.
Hrm.. hey Slashdot's new CSS looks nice!
Wait... argh! Still buggy!
Can't they do anything right?!
Must.. not.. hehe heh ehhhhhhh...
Today is the day I unleash my wrath
and appease my Dark Master...
Trolling is a art,
Old school = Journal / Diary
Now = Blogs
Future = Video Blogs
When he wrote this:
a nish
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=b
Argh.
Nearly 50% of the blogs in existence are not interesting for an overwhelming majority of people is what i read from this. Thats not to say that all the non-personal blogs aren't just as bad. As Leo Laporte talked about on TWiT this week, Blogging is quickly becoming a serious problem with Google, and all the other search engines. Search just about any news topic, and you might find yourself with a blog talking about it, the source of material from said blog is another blog, and the chain will continue until you get to one of a few websites. I think that Google might be going in the right direction with their blog search, if they can use it to eliminate all blogging sites from searches which do not wish to return results from blogs. This must happen for search engines to be as easy and timeless as they have been in the past unless the novelty of blogging wears off, but who knows when that will happen.
Also a form of therapy?
Blogging For One
The headline of the article says it all, and I'm glad those blogs people write about themselves are doing something good for SOMEONE. I find personal blogs that just constantly run on with someone's personal life to be the dullest reading. 99% of people do the same shit, feel the same guilt and address the same issues as all the other personal blogs out there.
And everybody feels different. Maybe they should all look hard at each others blogs and see how much people have in common.
Not that I'm complaining - the non-personal blogs, ones that write about technology, wider life, news, politics, and various other cool stuff makes up for the rest. As for me, I'll stick to whining on slashdot from time to time as my therapy.
I think it more or less comes down to the fact that if you are a decent writer with a somewhat interesting life, your blog, like any personal journal, will be good. If you are a crappy writer in the real world, you will be a crappy writer in the blogging world. (I refuse to use the term "Blogosphere").
If you have something to say, and an interesting way to say it, people will listen to what you have to say.
99% of blogs that I have read are poorly written, boring, and in a nutshell, sheer crap.
And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
Then...don't post them? Is Slashdot really that short on story submissions? I submitted a story for the humor section a few days ago about laser-scribed chicken eggs that will "fight terrorism", and it was rejected within an hour of submission.
Gave me the distinct impression the queue was full of really good stories. I mean, what's funnier than barcoding eggs with a laser, so terrorists don't fuss with them? We like lasers, yes? :-)
Please help metamoderate.
There was a chart on the office wall about 25 years ago which went:
Project Life Cycle
I used to think it was funny, but years of work in various shops have taught me this is the grim truth. In effect the steps can be found within Microsoft, the first two where during the heady successes of the early days of gobbling up easily taken markets. Step 3 are the growing pains of trying to forge headway into existing markets against established competitors also the rapid pace of virii and worms stripping the veneer of the solid image projected to businesses. Step 4 is where the management and employees don't see the problems with the same eyes. Step 5 is the big JARBO reorg over Vista rollout problems. Steps 6 and 7 are Microsoft hunting down their own unhappy employees and sacking them for the failures of management. Step 8 is when complete outsiders from General Mills, Glaxo, Smith & Wesson and Toro come in and head up departments, over experienced insiders.
I don't work for Microsoft. BTW I don't work for Microsoft.. Uh, Steve, unhand my ch
[NO CARRIER]
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
(I refuse to use the term "Blogosphere").
:P
You just did.
I do agree with you. I have thought about starting a blog (or even keeping a journal here or on paper in my desk), I never do, mostly because I can't stand to read my own writing (when on the topic of discussion). If I can't stnad to read it, then I'm not even going to expect anyone else to do so either.
Besides, therapy is what my shrink is for.
-nB
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
Whew. I breathed half a sigh of relief when I read that.
Please pay $50 for your therapy. You didn't think this was free, did you?
extra fees may apply for moderation, counter-moderation and metamoderation
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
You mean to tell me the teen girl world doesn't revolve around politics or current events? Inconceivable!
Current mood: :-/
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I mean, since when are women allowed to use the computer anyways, what with all the cookin and cleanin to do.
Blogs have empowered anyone with the ability to write about anything. Seeing as how harsh and demanding our society has become, I personally feel that it's not very surprising that so many blogs revolve around personal issues.
As someone who has a long history of suffering from Clinical Depression I know how healing it can be to be able to "bitch at an anonymous audience". Hell, just the simple fact that a lot of my close friends read my blog is a big help. The oldest form of therapy as well is just talking about how you feel, and a blog is certainly able to do that - albeit in a kind of one-way form, but none the less it gives you the power to ventilate your thoughts.
Blogs don't have to be grand on a scale. A lot of bloggers come of with some weird kind of delusion of grandeur, they write about all kinds of pompous stuff instead of writing about the really interesting things - and then they get bored and tired when they're not immediately greeted with a flood of comments about how awesome they are. Me, I have a little different approach. I write MY thoughts, and primarily it's just for ventilation of my windy head. If people like it, great. If people don't, then please move along, no need to submit a comment about how my writing sucks or something like that.
My blog often revolves around every-day things, or when the mood goes south I tend to write about that. If people aren't interested it's not my problem since I don't need to please everyone who reads my blog. I have my friends, and over the last year I've attracted a small but dedicated following who read my ravings and rantings so obviously there's something interesting there.
I enjoy large posteriors and I cannot prevaricate.
Who's said writing about news/politics/life in general can't be therapeutic in one way or another? Hell, I rarely write about myself or my feelings in my blog (yes, I have one). Yet the blog entries are always about something else than they seem to be about: they can be either not-really-saying-what-I'm-saying, or just motivated by how I'm feeling at the moment. But just because I'm not ranting about, say, how lonely I am or how bad my life sucks (neither of these necessarily apply to me; just picking two random topics that seem to be quite popular) it doesn't mean I'm not trying to "get something out".
And I do belive I'm not the only one doing this.
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
Well, if anything, Blogs as journals are great historically. For example, I have my Great grandmother's journal, but I honestly can't read her handwriting.
As dry as many blogs are, wouldn't it however be interesting to read a blog from colonial US times, or Napoleanic times etc? Even if they are just inane day to day things.
I think that keeping a journal is great, electronic or paper. What I can't stand are people who are upset that no one is reading their blog, when no one listens to them at the office/home etc....
And something that is great about the internet is that there may only be 2 other people in your city with the same fascination with BeanieBabies/Chrysler LeBarons/Tonenail collecting as you, but on the internet, there may be hundreds. So I guess my point is, it doesn't matter what the subject of the blog is, if it is written in an interesting way/with an interesting take.
In conclusion- keep a journal! Sometimes I wish that I did, as I wouldn't mind seeing what my thoughts were 5, 10,15 years ago etc...
And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
Today is the bestest day!
How do I post a picture of my cat here?
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
I find posting on slashdot very therapeutic.
I'm lonely.
I read lots of blogs, and as I read them I often think to myself:
1) Thank goodness my life is interesting and does not revolve around my cat (I like cats as much as the next man, but I don't replace the human beings in my life with fuzzballs).
2) Thank goodness I am no longer a hormone crazed teenager who is in love one moment and ready to commit suicide at the next (ah, those were the good old days...).
3) Thank goodness I have something better to do than cook up conspiracy theories all day long (if I read one more UFO blog or another blogger claiming to be a "Spook, I'll go balistic).
4) Thank goodness I have an occupation (while there are professional bloggers, those that post nothing more than rants about the bad employment market and whine about it all day long rather than look for work are not among them).
So... yeah. Blogs are theraputic. Often times, they can make me feel so much better about myself.
(the above is sarcasm and, obviously, doesn't refer to all blogs... so let's dispense with the flaming)
Sure, therapy for them, but all these crappy blogs depresses the hell out of me!
In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.
There was a time when people used to sit around on the porch, in the living room (hence the term "living" room), the kitchen table, etc, and actually talk to each other deeply. I think we humans need that kind of thing. For some reason, that does not happen much in our modern culture. A lot of blogs are kind of an unconscious outreach for that kind of thing, I think. We used to freely give each other therapy on a daily basis - now you have to pay for it and it's seen as a sign of weakness. Blogs offer a sort of new and hip way around that cultural barrier. It is still no substitute for real, honest, caring human interaction - but sometimes it might be all that's available.
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
Why should this be such a surprise? Blogging is like writing in a journal, except it is online. Writing of any kind can be a form of therapy, why should blogging be any different?
I really don't understand why people make such a big damn deal about blogging. It's just an extension of journal writing in that it is published online, and as for it being a different kind of website, it is just a content management system used as a journal. Can somebody please tell me what the big deal is? Are the statistics in the article supposed to mean anything?
Jesus, as an AOL user, also considers blogging to be a form of therapy? Wow! ;)
"Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
I find personal blogs that just constantly run on with someone's personal life to be the dullest reading
While that may be true for many blogs, you obviously haven't found the interesting personal ones. Let me tell you something - most fiction out there is just the same thing done in a different and interesting way. Hence, it it is the same with blogs; they may all talk about the same overall themes in their lives, but the good ones make it either more poignant, meaningful, or somehow universally applicable to the reader (and therefore create a connection). Some can do this through language, others through their particular point of view, but trust me, there are good personal blogs out there. One that I read is so entertaining on so many levels (literary, humorous, emotional) that it's almost overwhelming (and I also have a feeling that the person is actually a well established writer - it's been hinted at in his entries). The thing is, this blog is just an account of his day to day activities, none of which are significantly more interesting than your typical individual, yet it's written to be completely enthralling.
Most creative writing classes always say "know your audience". What I think makes this blog so interesting is that while he knows their is a potential audience out there, it's not pandered to. There are no silly quizzes, "memes" are avoided, and the usual personal blog garbage is not to be found. Or to put it another way, he knows his audience is him, and *maybe* some other readers. It makes for some interesting reading.
Yes Bill, but your site is interesting to an outside observer, and I am sure even more so to those who enjoy the things you do (like your geocaching) and people who know you personally. Plus, it is well written.
Slashdot isn't a blog in that it is a conversation. Think about real life. Having converastion is much more interesting than listening to one person drone on and on and on ad infinitum. Most blogs are like the obnoxious person droning on and on.
By the way- how is married life?
And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
What I find worse is that it seems someone is "hijacking" my blog by copying all of MY entries into his / her blog.
I have no idea WHY they are doing this (they are still linking back to me though).
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
and now it's blogs.
....
Same need met, fairly similar concept, and in those times London and NYC had postal delivery five times a day, allowing one to share notes and such as well.
Mind you, back then that was the technology. This is similar in some ways, but not that surprising.
Next we'll bring back the Jet Pack as personal transportation device, or personal Steam Locomotives (we have a 200+ year supply of coal in the US, even if oil/gas are rapidly disappearing)
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Blogs are fine. At least you are not forced to read them. If you do go to someone else's website, it is through your own volition only. Blogging is fine. It's your fault if you subject yourself to someone else's misery online.
However, out of the clear blue, my Crohn's Disease came back from out of nowhere and I went from a leisurely vacation to a 5 day hospital stay complete with heavy helpings of shots, IVs and a naso-gastro tube up my nose and into my stomach.
Feeling miserable, I started up a blog just to chronicle all of this and joke around about some of these truly awful things that were happening to me. As it turns out, it's the most efficient way to share what's going on with the people who care about what's going on and I don't have to write/tell the same stories over and over again.
As it's taken a life of it's own, I've found that it's not only helping my friends and family understand what's going on, it's helping me work through everything as well.
And as for whether or not you agree or disagree with this, it really doesn't matter. A personal blog/site is just that...personal. No one asks anyone else to read these types of things unless the author is going out and setting up Adsense accounts and creating Technorati profiles. Furthermore, it is the individual's choice to read something or not...
...then are Sports Blogs kind of like physical therapy?
I would rephrase thusly: "If you are a crappy writer in the real world, you will be a less crappy writer in the blogging world."
I find that the fitful, occasional posts I make to my "blog" help me remember how to formulate my thoughts into coherent paragraphs instead of incoherent rantings. You can lose this skill otherwise, for example if you have a job where you work with poor communicators or where effective communication skills are not encouraged or rewarded.
No one reads my blog and I don't care, it's not really therapy as much as "writing practice".
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Please share this magical and wonderful blog of happiness that you have stumbled upon.
People may find it cathartic to discuss some of their deepest feelings on their blog. But sometimes they seem to forget that the medium they are using to express these feelings is the Internet. Blogs may feel like on-line journals, but they are journals millions of people can read. Indeed most blogs are ignored, but you never know what will catch on.
Bloggers perhaps comfort themselves with the idea that this is an anonymous medium. But in general the anonymity is illusionary unless you have a hackers skill at hiding your tracks. And even then you have to be careful about posting recognizable detail. The criticism of your spouse or your boss may come back to haunt you. It has with many people.
When ever you post material on the Internet in an anonymous forum you should consider if you can live with it being connected back to you. If you might find this unpleasant, but not horrible, then perhaps it is worth the risk. But if you're blogging about your adventures with sex workers, drugs or the stupidity of your boss and management chain, then you may pay a price if you become known as the author.
Anyway, blogging every night when I got home was very relaxing. It helped me to put the day in perspective and look back to see her progress that was difficult to see hour by hour. It also had two unforeseen benefits: I have a nice detailed record of the first 3 months of my daughter's life, and we didn't have to answer the same difficult questions over and over from concerned family members. It's far from great literature, mostly just a factual account that a stranger would find boring, but for me and my family it is priceless.
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Hence why nobody reads them. I keep an online journal (blog if you must use the accursed word) mostly because I like shiny things (screwing around with PHP/MySQL), but I honestly don't expect anybody to read it except a few family members and friends. If I were some random guy wandering in off the larger internet, I know I'd think my site was almost as boring and unoriginal as reality TV. Unless you're someone interested in what's going on in iamlucky13's life, the only thing my site has going for it is the fact that it doesn't look like a blogger, livejournal, or myspace creation.
As for myself, I don't even find most non-personal blogs interesting, like you do. In general, the organization and delivery of content is much better from more established sources, like slashdot, NASA, ars technica, space.com, etc.
The phenomenon even has its very own word. I'm shocked, shocked that no one has mentioned it yet.
He actually specifically lists a number of places you cannot link to his blog from, and among that list is slashdot. Yes, I'm serious.