I’ve just finished watching an episode of House entitled “Private Lives.” In it, there’s a character who blogs. There are some very nice points raised in the episode about the community that can be found on the Internet as well as the friendship and connection between individuals through it. Of course, this being House, there are also some bad points raised – the character writes about everything she goes through in her daily life, meaning she has no secrets and nor does her husband, who she writes about regularly.
So this is the issue I’m raising. This “everything” issue. I’ve written many blogs before: in Tapuz [an Israeli site], in Live Journal, in Open Diary [and Teen Open Diary when it was still around], in Blogspot and finally here. As opposed to all the others, I opened this blog in order to serve a purpose – practicing writing and getting feedback on it. I found friends here, and so now I occasionally dip into my personal life and write openly in from my own, real first-person point of view – just like I’m doing now.
All the other blogs I started were meant to be journals. The one I stuck with the longest – Teen Open Diary – closed down and since then, and the loss of a dear friend who I met through there, I’ve never managed to stick to a journaling blog. It’s been almost exactly five years since then. Maybe it had to do with my friend who was killed in a car crash, maybe not. I honestly don’t know.
So I don’t do the “everything” kind of writing. And now my question is – does anyone? Many of you write about your personal lives, but you don’t tell your readers everything – you tell anecdotes, you celebrate your families, you laugh about your days, you share experiences and memories, you give opinions. But you don’t expose everything. For one, everyone needs secrets. For another, how could you remember every single thing you’ve gone through every day? And finally, and most importantly, if you’re constantly writing about your life, then when do you have time to live it?
I love journal-writing. If not online, then by hand. I have a hard time sticking with it, but when I need to write about my days, my feelings and my thoughts, there’s always a pen and a notebook there, ready for me. Now, I have a pretty tough time – a HUGELY tough time, actually – with trying to appreciate every moment and really be present in my life. But if I just tried to write about everything I experienced, I don’t know if I’d be able to experience it.
Your opinions?
Slightly Ignorant 
I wouldn’t want to put everything in. Just consider the time factor alone. Eventually, you’d have nothing to write about because you’d end up doing nothing except blog.
And already blogging takes up a little bit too much of my time.
Life is to be lived. And then blogged about.
:-]
Personally, I couldn’t do the ‘journal writing’ online… I also opened my blog with a purpose, to write about wiring and to share my experiences as an unpublished, aspiring author, to write about my journey and meet with fellow writers. So far, it worked pretty well for me. But I cannot write ‘everything’, I wouldn’t want to write about my personal life or what is going on in my day to day life.
I watched this episode, too! I know that I write some personal things on my blog, but nothing that people don’t already know, or it’s sometimes cryptic. I certainly don’t expose everything about my life.
Missed that episode. I don’t think online blogs should include “everything” because everything involves other people whose privacy will be invaded, and really some things are just personal. I try to be careful about what I publish, or at least not use names or inform the person if I’m writing about them. I dish on my hubby with his opinion. I don’t write much about my kids except when they were smaller, one doesn’t care what I write about him, the other doesn’t want to be written about. I print the stories about my father out for him. Mainly, I try not to say bad things even if they are true about people because I don’t want to hurt others, and my opinions might not be the same as another’s perspective…I try to be more general, but it doesn’t always work that way. I do enjoy other people’s journals but I just can’t put myself that far out there…I talk from my soul but I don’t tell EVERYTHING.
i don’t think writting about your entire life so publicly has any good outcome
like you said, everyone has and needs to keep secrets about themsevles, about their lives
i know of someone who writes about her life quite openly in the blog world, i learnt more about her through her blog than i did in reality and in-turn lost so much respect for her
i dont understand why people would want strangers & even people in their lives knowing every little detail, every bad thought, every boring moment (?)- do people even care?
i dont know, guess its a touchy/subjective subject
anyways, i love reading your entries x
First, I’m very sorry about your friend.
Second, I agree with you about the experience. Somethings are better left untouched by the pen (or keyboard). You don’t have to write about EVERYTHING. I actually think that would become quite stressful.
I would share everything on my blog. I wish I could. But I have a psychological thing where I’m terrified that people would judge me, and, if they knew everything about me, they’d stop liking me or they’d just get bored reading. So . . . no. I probably share more than I should, but I definitely don’t share everything.
And I’m so sorry about your friend, Ilana.
xoxoxo
I saw that episode too. I do share a lot of personal info, but definitely not EVERYTHING. I make sure to be respectful too, of my family, when posting. Some things might mortally embarrass my teenage son. I always make sure to get my husband and son’s okay when sharing something I think they may have a problem with. No one wants to know EVERYTHING anyway, man that would get tedious! 😉