Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Oh, Hai World

Over the past couple months, I've picked up some followers in Twitter, friends in Facebook, and blog readers that I know. Family members now can easily find out how I am coping, or not, with the world in spaces I previously let things, well, hang out.

Before Facebook morphed into a place where grandmothers invite their grandkids to join their Mafia/Zombie/Maim,Kill,Destroy group, I was pretty casual about my activity on there. I didn't think twice about posting a status update that reflected whatever my hormones were doing to me that day. After all, I figured that my friends on there would know I didn't mean them if my update said, "Julia hates all of you today. Just today." Lately though, I've found I don't want to even post updates that could be construed as whining or negative. Do I really need my cousins knowing every little detail? My aunt certainly reads my updates as she told the whole family at brunch on Sunday that they could join Facebook and also know whenever I have a headache or am craving doughnuts.

Then there's this blog. I've tried not to hold back too much on here, but in the almost eight years I've been writing entries, I've found myself wanting to share a little less. I don't want this to turn into an impersonal blog that just re-landscapes news stories I've read elsewhere. But I've been feeling less comfortable putting out details to any of the people who regularly check in from around the world, but never leave comments. Part of the joy of keeping a blog is the occasional blog comment readers leave. It reminds me that I'm not just getting bots trolling through. Probably another reason I like Facebook so much. People respond. Even though it's not even a sad replacement for person-to-person interaction, it feels more personable.

I've never been a huge fan of self-censorship. Perhaps this uneasiness will pass and I'll once again find myself horrifying you with my transgressions into TMI territory. Either way, the blog is staying. I would love to hear from the lurkers sometime. I know not everyone likes to interact, but it's generally so nice when you do.

7 comments:

i812many said...

What a great blog post. I struggle with that same issue. I have my online world and then my family world. I usually do not mix the two. You cannot even find me on a FB search.

I do enjoy reading your blog, it even inspired me to do regular postings on my blog, even though it is all techie geeky stuff right now. I even got to reading a few blogs on your blogroll.

I hope you keep up the blog posts as it is one of the things I check in the AM.

Allie said...

I've been reading for a long time, and I don't think I've commented much, if at all. Sorry for that!

I have such a range of people I connect with one Facebook. I like to change my status every day, but do wonder sometimes - does my old writing professor really need to know that I had salt potatoes for breakfast? It gets weirder the longer you have a presence on the interwebs and more people pick up on what you're doing

Emma said...

I'll join in and say I have the same problem. Of course, most of the reason for my self-censorship is the fact that my blog attracted a couple of whackadoodledandy stalkers who started harassing me in real life. Gah!

I keep my FaceBook pretty much on the QT and only have relatives and friends I've met in person on there. That way, I have a place I can post about the specifics of my life without having to worry about stalkers.

skb said...

insert random, non TMI interaction here.

Mr. Nighttime said...

Now look at that; one outcry and the whole world responds. ;-) Well, that may be a bit much, but you get the idea.

Funny though, as I don't see you posting comments on my blog, sniff...sniff...I'll get over it, eventually.

Julia said...

Thanks for the comments! One thing I thought of after posting and comments started rolling in is that it's pretty easy to not comment on people's blogs. It's the RSS issue. I read most blog entries in Google Reader, so if I want to comment on an entry I have to actually go to the blog post and leave my thoughts. It's not as easy as simply clicking on comment/like in Facebook.

Luis Baars said...

Lurk, lurk, lurk.

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