Week 2: To Post, or Not to Post?

I’ve always found diaries as a great way to release the stress of the day into a safe place where no one will ever see it. For years, I have bought cute little notebooks, of every size and every color, in the hopes of finally committing to writing in it every day. Unfortunately, I have never been able to hold myself to it. I am horrible with keeping up with what seems like such a simple task every day, and I wish I could so I would have an account of my life.

If I had kept up with one over the years, I would never post it online for the world to see. By nature, I am a very private person, and the thought of writing about myself online in a diary form sounds terrifying. I don’t believe it is a bad thing at all, if you can do that, more power to you. I am just not the type of person who wants an audience for my deepest, darkest secrets. Sharing personal thoughts, dreams, or little anecdotes about your day to day life is okay, it can be quite entertaining for people, but I do believe a line can be crossed into oversharing. Talking about people in your personal life who did not consent to be put online can be very dangerous, and I feel that in this day and age of social media, we tend to see this a lot. It isn’t that hard to change a name to keep that person unknown, and it will still allow you to vent your frustrations.

 I wouldn’t mind posting an online diary if I knew it would always be kept anonymous, but I think that eventually, if the audience grew large enough, people would be dying to know who you are. People are, by nature, very nosy, which is why I believe we love to read other people’s journals. Having a peak into someone else’s life can be exciting, and voyeuristic in a way. Feeling like you’re a fly on a wall into someone’s personal life is appealing to people. I mean, isn’t that why we are all obsessed with reality TV? Watching other people interact in everyday life or even listening to their thoughts can be very intriguing. I think people are naturally inclined to connect with others, and by reading someone else’s thoughts that may be similar to your own in such an intimate way can be comforting. Knowing that there is someone out there who thinks like you, acts like you, and is going through the same problems as you, is something that people crave. With regards to people in the public eye, like celebrities, I think we are curious about how they live their lives. It’s like reading a memoir, you read it because they have an amazing story to tell, they have a famous relative or are famous themselves, or you are just curious about what their life may have been like during a certain time. Diaries can also be a good source of information on certain periods of time, like Anne Frank’s diary which provided great detail of the Nazi party and how they slowly took control over the Jewish people.

Most writers who write in a diary tend to write in their own stream of consciousness. They could be retelling events that have happened over the day, the week, or months, but they are expressing their thoughts on that event now, in that present moment. I don’t think this means that they are the only ones who can learn from it, like I said, others can relate to the issue they’re writing about, and we can find out key information about events that took place during that period in time. Diaries have been used as evidence in murder cases, and as a historical reference, so yes, I believe people other than the writers themselves can gain something from it. The writers can learn from it too; they can develop a better understanding of themselves, they can use it as a way to organize their thoughts on something before telling anyone else, and they can use it as a way to look back on their life. Their diary can then be passed down to generations who can also learn about what life was like during that exact moment in time, from the writer’s perspective.

When you write a diary, I don’t believe anyone is too concerned with the spelling, grammar, organization, or name dropping, for that matter. If you are only using it as a way to vent your feelings onto paper, because there is no one else you want to tell, then who cares? No one will see it. I know that in the diaries I kept when I was 10, I had no problem name dropping all of the boys I was currently in love with at that time, because the only person who was going to see it was me, and in a way isn’t that almost therapeutic? To be able to say anything and have no one see it. Just get it all out there, like one does when they go to see a therapist. I tend to write a diary entry in an almost frantic way anyways, it’s almost like there is so many things on my mind that I have to get them all out immediately, and reading it back, it wouldn’t make any sense to anyone else but me.  

Having an audience can change anything, though. News anchors don’t talk like that all the time, only when they’re on camera. I think when you are writing something with the intent for someone else to see it, you have to change things. If you write a diary with the plan to put it online for anyone to see, you would have to fix some spelling errors, make your thoughts a bit more coherent, organize it in a way that is readable, and most importantly, change the names of those you do not want to be associated with your diary. If you are bold enough to post all your thoughts online, then you must be able to respect that others aren’t so bold. Whether a diary is online for anyone to see, or in a notebook for only you, I think they are a perfect way to let go of all your thoughts and feelings in a healthy way that won’t burden anyone around you, and won’t cause any damage your mental health.