"It's like they're writing the novel of their lives, and [public] participation adds truth to their story." (Bill Schreiner, vice president for AOL's community programming as quoted in the article) …
Although it may feel good to blog, psychologists warn that going public with private musings may have ramifications, and that little research has been done on the consequences of the Internet confessional. …
Despite the element of risk, the relationships that develop between the writer and the audience can become very real, said Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, assistant professor of English at the University of Maryland, who studies blogs.
Pamela Hilger, for example, considers herself a member of a very tightknit community of dozens of people who read each others' online journals -- even though, after more than two years, most know her only by her first name.
I don't know that I consider my own blogging experiment to be therapy. I paid good money for years of actual therapy!! (Can you tell?). But I do enjoy the public participation aspect. I think of it more as vocation discernment as performance art/improvisation/advice column/time waster/excuse to write and share my brilliant observations with the blogosphere. I have no elusions that my public musings are anything but public. In fact, a big part of what I like about blogging is the virtual community aspect of it. And I'll admit that I also hope that maybe I can help some folks out there who are maybe possibly thinking about a vocation to take the plunge themselves. Don't want to be alone in my future now do I?
Hmm… interesting. And a bit humorous to me that this is news! And that an academic "studies blogs." ... Begs the question though … if blogging is a form of therapy, what does it mean if one makes lego portraits of oneself and then posts them online :) And what is the psychological meaning of giving one's lego self portrait a sparkly magic wand? Hmmm… VERY interesting!
Lunch break over.
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