I consider this blog my personal journal. I haven’t exactly began journaling, per se, yet, but I’ll certainly do that once I write all the posts that’ve been bouncing around my mind for the past few months. I love journaling and I feel it’s something everyone should do. It forces a person to sit down and think about his or her day. It forces recollection and ponderance. It forces a slower pace. And these may actually be good things.
Before launching this blog, I did some perusing on whether or not anyone out there was interested in reading something like it; a blog that’s personal in nature, like the ones we used to write before 2010. Earlier this century, it seemed like journal-type websites were all the rage. Nearly everyone had one and people around the world were eagerly gobbling up posts as soon as they were written. RSS was a big thing and it seemed like technology to make it easier for folks to consume this type of material was being developed just as quickly as new blogs sprang up. Those days truly were good ones, so when I recently decided to jump back into the fray, I wondered to myself, “Is the personal blog really dead?” It certainly seemed as though it was. I made it my mission to find out. Because after all, why in the world would I go to all the effort of setting up a website like this if no one was interested in looking at it?
Before I let you in on what my findings were, I feel as though I need to explain why most people surf the internet. You probably already know the answer. It’s no secret. Okay, here’s the reason: because people are bored. Yes, it’s true. Most people on this planet, no matter how much they’ve got to do all day, are bored out of their wits. And beyond being utterly bored, they’re consumers as well. Consumers of everything; useful knowledge just as much as useless knowledge. It’s why social media has become so popular and it’s why so many of us have become completely and wholly addicted to it. I guess the mobile phone hasn’t helped in that regard because I can’t imagine folks sitting at their computers all day long reading through these websites, so it’s surely a combination of both material and accessibility. Material being the media and accessibility being the phones. I’ll get back to the being bored thing in a moment.
So let’s answer the question of whether or not there’s any desire for reading personal blogs, otherwise known as online journals. From what I’ve found, the answer is a resounding yes. Early on in my “internet research,” I landed on a Reddit post that discussed the very topic. The original poster asked if there were any personal diary-like blogs out there that were favorites and if anyone missed the personal blogs of yesteryear. From this one question, a massive exchange took place. Many responders lamented the blog’s decline in popularity and just as many wished they’d come back. Personally, I wish they’d come back too, which is why I write on this very website. Apparently, because of the epidemic of boredom on this earth, individuals far and wide crave not only the inane nonsense of what occurs on social media, but would love to follow the lives of others as well – blog style. And not only that, these readers, or consumers of both useful and useless knowledge, crave depth, which is something social media simply doesn’t offer at the moment. I mean really, how much scrolling past pictures and memes can a person do with their thumb before they feel like a total idiot. It’s become apparent that readers would like to ingest something that lasts longer than a moment or two. From what I’ve found, they’d like to follow the lives of others. As evidence of this, please read through the following replies to the question the forum user posted (referenced above):
- Oh I miss them so much! I used to read these kinds of blogs and I even had one too. Lately I have felt like I would like to do it again, but it seems like everyone has stopping blogging like this.
- I miss that – I had a blog like that back in like 2004-2005!
- I’m in love with blogging and would totally and completely adore finding other blogs like mine!
Sentiment like the above is the tip of the iceberg. I cruised through website after website where people were practically crying because they had difficulty in finding personal blogs like the ones they used to read. Yes, there are directories that include them, but even those directories are arduous to locate. I guess the search engines don’t deem them as appealing as the public does.
I’m not sure online journals are meant to be popular. I think their audiences are like that of the television show LOST – very tightly knit and extraordinarily dedicated. Smaller blogs like the ones I’m referring to are intimate with writing that’s authored by a person who doesn’t mind sharing details that most would rather keep private. It’s because of this reason, these websites are so appealing. Also, if a reader were to leave a comment on such a site, it’d surely be answered by the blogger. That’s not a common occurrence, so I dare say it’s special. And it really is special because not only is a person reading what’s written on a website, over time, they’re developing a relationship with whomever it is who’s doing the writing. I should know – I’ve made many a friend through blogging. Of course, they’re all gone now because I haven’t blogged like I used to in years, but perhaps if I begin again as I intend to, future relationships might develop. That is, if people find my writing interesting and personal enough. I’ll do my best to make it so.
So there it is. My little spiel about journaling on the internet. I honestly had no idea what I was going to write before delving into this post, so I hope what I jotted down made some sense. If you’ve got any memories to share, I’d love to learn about them. If you’d care to comment about whatever it is you’d like to comment about, I’ve love to read it. Thanks!
