The vast reach of the World Wide Web has made personal expression a seeming worldwide hobby. But why in this fashion? Word processors have been around for decades in one form or another (i.e. typewriters included). So why do most people seem to not keep even the convenience of a typed, electronic journal, even before the omnipresent Web? Instead, now everyone has a blog or regularly visits/updates their Facebook profile. Perhaps it is not about thinking and finding oneself through introspective thought in writing, but rather showing oneself to and communicating with the rest of the world that is so attractive to so many.
I find myself regularly pruning, as it were, my Facebook profile, and I love it… it’s like an all-encompassing digital scrapbook that I can share with the world. I see or find something really cool, it goes on my page’s wall. I watch some awesome movie or show, it goes in my little favorites list. Photos of some event go in my public album. Some use these tools as online resumes or for advertising. I think everyone just likes to have their own social space that they can show off in one way or another. Does that mean that people line up to read what I or anyone else posts or writes? Certainly not, but it fulfills an inner need to be recognized, to be shown, to feel more complete.
There is no real point in my writing this… I am essentially thinking out loud and pointing out the obvious. But is it not true in some way?
Good point palmer.