A few years ago, every few months, someone or the other would pipe up with an angsty post on the topic of blogging. The question always was: Why do we blog? My standard thought at that time was that I blog because I feel like it. Now I think I have a better answer.
I blog to remember.
You mean it's like a sort of open, online diary?
ReplyDelete(I never kept a diary and I rarely re-read my old posts -- so I suppose our motivations are different.)
I originally started when a Telugu site started rejecting my comments. Slowly the purpose seems to be changing. Now it is partly like a commonplace book:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2010/04/the-glass-box-and-the-commonplace-book.html#more
But too many interesting things and I am beginning to loose track of the previous posts.
And people are tweeting to forget?
ReplyDelete//seriously, hasn't everyone abandoned their blogs for twitter?
Trying to remember from a public log, recorded soon after something happens - seems like an inherently sketchy enterprise. You lose the ability to introspect. But later on, you read your blog, and it seems factual.
ReplyDeleteI am skeptical of using blogs to archive personal memories.
BM: For me, self-censorship (while blogging) is the bigger problem...which is why a public blog cannot replace a private diary for me.
ReplyDeleteI blog(ged) to forget.
ReplyDeleteNow that I have forgotten I no longer feel the need to blog.
True story!
But thanks to you, I have to blog about this now.
ReplyDeleteSheesh!