Monday, June 7, 2004

Just a Thought

While I was reading an editorial column in Saturday's newspaper, a particular line caught my eye.  Something about a reference to "millions" of journals drifting out there in cyberspace; it doesn't matter right now what the editorial was about.  It was the word "millions" that brought me up short. 

I read journals from my journal group list, another list of AOL journals very nicely put together by a helpful fellow journalist and by checking out journal links provided in sidebars of "Other Journals" provided by those journals I'm reading.  (Whew!  Very confusing sentence.)  As a result of this, I tend to think this is all that's out there.  Of course, this is not the case at all.  Thousands upon thousands of people write journals and have never bothered, or maybe even thought, to add theirs to an existing list.  The staggering amount of journals that are evidently out there boggles the mind!  Which brings me to~

Why do we create these journals and add to them on a fairly regular basis?  All of us think what we do and have to say is important and want to share all this with others.  I think we all start out writing these journals for ourselves, as a pastime, a diversion, a catharsis, whatever.  Before too long, something begins to happen.  We're checking the reader "hit" number to see if anyone's checking out our words of wisdom.  We're looking for comments; elated when we get one, somewhat let down when we don't. 

Suddenly, we find we're not just writing for ourselves anymore.  We're writing in hopes of finding a receptive audience.  With each additional entry, there's this little voice buried not so deeply in our subconscious that's whispering, "must keep people coming back, must increase readership, must strive to be more interesting" and so on.

Then there's the Holy Grail of the AOL Journals, to have your journal selected as one of the Editor's Pick!  Wow!  In our heart of hearts, wouldn't we all love to have our journal, our lovingly crafted "brainchild" (as I call it) showcased for the world to see?  I think most of us would if we choose to be completely truthful with ourselves.  Everybody does desire that "15 minutes of fame" timeslot and this would be a great, relatively easy way to achieve it. 

And so, in the end, the relaxing pleasantries of creating a journal and writing in it somehow gets turned around into becoming a willing (or perhaps not) contestant in yet another popularity contest and this is a big one.

Remember, this is purely my opinion and my take on this subject.  Am I crazy (well, maybe just a little; can't cope in this world if you're not just a leetle crazy)?  Does anyone else feel this way?  Yes, I'll admit I would love nothing more than to receive an e-mail that began, "Your journal has been selected, etc." I am, however, enough of a realist (pessimist?) to know that will never happen.  Neither of my journals is flashy enough.  I don't use graphics, photos and other assorted fun and interesting stuff due in part to lack of know-how,definitely the biggest part, and (other part) because the computer I have is not terribly new and extremely slow.  However, I love this computer of mine.  I was  lucky enough to inherit it from my darling daughter when she upgraded and it has enabled me to visit a whole new world which, up until about two years ago, I never knew exisited.  Now I'm hooked.  Ah, from cigarettes to computer screen; surely this addiction won't kill me as quickly!

Thanks for reading.  I just had to get this out.  This is as close as I come to ranting.  Now I feel so much better.  It's just that as I rapidly approach the age of 51, I thought I was well past the popularity game.  In truth, I guess it never ends 'til the day we breathe our last.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought I was the ONLY person in AOL J-land who had this reaction to the whole "Editor's Pick" thing.  SO nice to know I'm not out of step with the ENTIRE world.  When I first became aware of "The List," I thought, "Bleah!  Why are they trying to turn this into a competitive endeavour?"  I bash the list constantly, and I STILL get solicitations from various corners of AOL journal land for my journal to be featured somewhere.  And I just blow them off.  I'm not doing this for some kind of reward or recognition.  I'm writing because I've always NEEDED to write, and this is the first time I've had the experience of writing to an audience.  As a great bonus, I feel like I'm a memeber of a community now...like I've made some friends; like I've met some people that I can actually care about.
Your description of the journey of online journal writing could have been written by me.  I experienced EXACTLY the same progression of feelings!  Lisa  :-]

Anonymous said...

Thank you!  LOL  Apparently, great minds think alike!

Anonymous said...

You've hit the nail on the head for me, anyway... as I am sure you are obviously aware.  I am so intrigued by the addiction that my summer Readers Theatre class is going to do a ton of research on "Blogging" and produce a lovely little 25-minute
Welcome to the Blogosphere theatre.  (if all goes well...)  Like you, i am astounded when I get outside of AOL J-land and realize just how much this encompasses.  I would love to know the gist of your article, as we all will be on the lookout for Web Logs information in regard to Pop Culture, etc.  I will be asking permission from fellow journalers to use quotations and excepts from their own journals-- so send stuff my way!
Millions, huh?  And you recommend that journalling might be a way to quit smoking?  Hmmmm.  I advised JeffComedy of that this very morning in his comments box.
Physician, heal thyself!

Anonymous said...

You're so right but then comes a day where you get back to being yourself and write for YOU again. I kind of write self-help stuff most of the time and if it helps one person, I'm happy.

Anonymous said...

Never thought about it that way, but I guess you are right!  It does feel good to get that comment, to  realize other people share your same concerns and/or struggles.

Jan

Anonymous said...

I know...this feels like high school--the unpleasant part. My own life isn't flashy enough to attract much attention. I started my journal as a way to document my children's lives.  I need to keep SOME kind of homeschooling record...but then I worried when I don't seem popular.  Now I have sort of surrendered. As long as my children are happy with it, that's enough.