Well, Why The Fuck Indeed?
March 8, 2010 | Filed under Life, Online
Is it just me, or is everyone in this particular corner of the personal blogosphere starting to rethink/doubt their involvement in blogging? It seems as though I’ve read at least half a dozen blog entries in the past week surrounding the whole topic of: “Why the fuck do we put our lives on show and have we really considered the possibility of being dooced in this new web-savvy work environment?” Well I can tell you now – there’s no genuine reason for it.
For most of us, it’s just habit – we got used to writing for an audience when we started blogging in our teens and now that we’re approaching the ‘career’ part of our lives, it’s become a habit we can’t shake, despite whatever repercussions it may have for our professional careers. We like the attention. We like the feedback. We like the idea that despite how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things, however small we really are in this huge diverse world of ours, someone out there values our opinions. For that one random person out there who follows our blog religiously – we are someone who matters.
It gives you an enormous sense of self-validation. So what if you fight with your family, if you’re insecure about your relationship, if you feel like you don’t have any real friends, if you feel like there’s a million things wrong with your life? PEOPLE on the INTERNET care about you! There is PURPOSE to your LIFE! Your VOICE is being HEARD!
That, ladies and gentlemen, is why however absent I may be from this blog from time to time, I would never ever find it in my heart to abandon blogging altogether. There will be times in my life when nothing will go right. When that happens, I know I can always come back and open up on this blog, and find people who care about me. These people will be inspiration enough to get over whatever hurdle I’m facing, and work towards something better.
13 Responses to Well, Why The Fuck Indeed?
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I reserve the right to edit or delete your comment as I see fit, though I only delete comments from anonymous commenters, or people with multiple aliases. Using a genuine name/email combination will ensure that your comment is approved.
Like I said on Aisling’s blog on the topic, if someone chooses not to employ me based on what they read on my personal website, I don’t want to work for them!
If I really felt the need to bitch about my boss or a co-worker or something like that, I’d do it on LiveJournal.
I’m not giving up my blog for anyone, because… I love the attention!
Nellie on March 8, 2010 #
I stopped using my full legal name online when I was sixteen. Aside from a few old usenet posts, nothing of mine that still exists is tied to my legal name, and I only talk about my employer under friends-lock. I’d rather not be dooced. XD I can see why some people have concerns, but it’s really not that hard to be careful.
Jack on March 8, 2010 #
I agree with what you’re saying; and in fact, i don’t think it’s very hard to avoid getting dooced – just don’t directly bitch about work/boss, etc etc? Anyway, I’m glad you’re never going to abandon blogging altogether; and I know I couldn’t either.
Amanda on March 8, 2010 #
Amen, sister. I don’t think I’ll give it up either. I keep on chugging and I’ll keep on reading your blog for however long you write too which is hopefully forever. :)
Caity on March 9, 2010 #
Yeah, I don’t think I’d be able to give up blogging, until the point where I just become too busy for it (I kind of figured I would have reached that point by now…but I guess not.). I suppose for what I’m trying to get into (new media), it’s probably a GOOD thing to be all over the Internet and have a strong presence. And I have been pretty good at keeping crap off the Internet, and if someone does drag something up from when I was 16, I can easily say “Uhh… I was 16!” But I think it makes for an interesting conversation to see why so many people are leaving personal blogging and falling more into a niche. I don’t have any one topic that I am interested in that hasn’t been talked about to death, so I prefer the variety, I guess.
Aisling on March 9, 2010 #
I can’t see myself ever giving up blogging either. Blogging less frequently, yes – undoubtedly, that’ll happen next school year. But as for giving it up altogether, that’s really not in the cards for me because I like blogging. I like having an outlet, I like rambling about things that I’m surprised people care about, and I like writing. I’m not silly enough to write something that would jeopardize my future career, so I’ve got that covered ;)
Manda on March 9, 2010 #
I am a web developer and my boss and co-workers know about all of my websites. It’s pretty easy to trace me, and I’ve given up trying to hide. The problem is, because I know that some people in particular are potentially watching my every move online, I do stifle my thoughts.
I don’t post exactly what I truly believe all of the time because some things I just don’t want some people to know. Some things I don’t tell my mum, some things I don’t tell my boyfriend, some things I don’t tell my IRL friends, some things I don’t tell people on warcraft, some things I don’t tell people I don’t know. I know the audience of my blog includes certain people, so I tailor my blog entries in such a way that they won’t read what I don’t want them to hear.
It’s a pretty simple concept. I don’t get annoyed that people find out things I don’t want them to know. I don’t get fired because my boss didn’t hear about what I got up to last weekend. Everyone’s happy. But is my blogging pointless if I can’t express my innermost thoughts without shrinking into anonymity? Yeah, maybe.
Macca on March 9, 2010 #
Hehe Amanda, you should become a motivational speaker. Oh my god, then you’ll become famous and travel all around the world collecting frequent flyer points.
I gave up caring if people read my blog or not, I prefer reading about other people’s lives…so much more interesting :).
I wanna be the first person to thank you for blogging.
monkee on March 9, 2010 #
I couldn’t have worded this better myself, if I tried.
This is exactly the reasons why I came back to blogging.
I stopped blogging for a few years, and came back in January 2010. I felt like no one gave a shit. But I said “If I keep writing, if I write meaningfully, even if it’s about a stupid topic, someone out there will read it”.
This is why I don’t want to stop blogging. Because someone out there, even if they don’t comment, they give enough of a shit to visit my blog every day.
And I am thankful, every day, for still being here. Years ago, when I first started blogging, I wouldn’t be here today living and breathing, if it weren’t for “internet people” caring.
So, thanks to you kind strangers. For taking part in random blogs, and actually caring.
I really want to thank you for posting this post, too. Because honestly, it couldn’t have been written better.
Annika on March 9, 2010 #
Ehhh, I’ve been blogging since I was maybe 13-14, but even then, I’ve always been very careful about the information that I put up about myself (i.e. real name, no last name, no birthdate, no city, etc.). I mean, there are ways to be careful about blogging about yourself and there are ways to be careful about blogging about work (i.e. not using the real name of the company, not using real names of managers, bosses, fellow colleagues, etc.). I like my pseudo-anonymity though, you know? I don’t need everyone online to know exactly what I look like and everything else about my life. But I like the audience… Funny thing is, I’m terribly shy when it comes to meeting new people in real life.
Michelle on March 10, 2010 #
Meh, I’ve been blogging nearly half my life now. I can’t abandon it at this point! There’s a bit of selfishness to most blogging, but we as humans just adore reading about other people’s lives. It makes blogging a very interesting phenomenon!
Becky on March 11, 2010 #
*applause*
I don’t really have much else to add. I’ve been blogging since I’m 13. I can say I want to stop for reasons x, y and z but I know I really can’t…
Felisa on March 12, 2010 #
I can still remember the transition I made when I stopped blogging. It went something along the lines of “I have nothing interesting to say” to “I have nothing that isn’t embarrassing to say” to “facebook does a better job of sharing information while requiring minimal thought and effort, while reaching a wider audienece.”
I can also clearly remember the moment I stopped following most other personal blogs unless I had a connection to them. (I count admiring your sweet rack as connection). It was about that time everyone was ripping on justified font, as if two years of community college or high school or whatever put you in a legitimate position to talk about design, and you weren’t just copying whatever jemjabella had said. I’m talking probably before myspace got big. Someone posted some nonsense using font doctored to prove the point and my response was “I challenge you to reproduce that on a real wesbite”. Suffice to say the post was taken down.
And that’s how Mike began his life as a bitter old man.
Mike Haddad on March 13, 2010 #