Journals and diaries, not just on paper any more

February 27, 2004
by Ashley Sobel
Staff Reporter

Remember back when it was considered cool to keep diaries? We’d hide them under our beds or in our pillowcases, keeping them locked, and inside we’d write all about Jimmy Smith, the cutest boy in the whole entire third grade. Guys, if you kept diaries, you made sure that no one ever found out about it due to the risk of getting beaten up after school.

Later, people started to refer to diaries as “journals”, a possible attempt to erase the feminine associations with the word “diary.” Still, it was the female population that dominated the skill of jotting down which guy had the cutest butt, which girl didn’t deserve to be prom queen, and who she planned on marrying at that particular moment.

Today, the whole concept of scribbling onto paper one’s personal thoughts has been revolutionized by technology and by the trend to express one’s self publicly.

Between 1998 and 1999, interest in reading journal entries on personal websites grew. Soon, internet savvy individuals created websites specifically designed for the purpose of posting these daily entries: blogging sites.

One of the most popular blogging sites used by Albion students is LiveJournal. According to its website, LiveJournal was created in March 1999 by a young computer science major named Brad Fitzpatrick. It’s a website and community that revolves around personal journals. People can go to the website and just randomly choose to view individual’s journals, or they can search for entries based on interest, especially when they seek out communities. Most sites also have features so that users can make private entries, too.

Cidney Magee, Brown City first-year, a newcomer to the LiveJournal community, has had her journal for about a month and a half.

“I got one because my friends told me to get one,” Magee said. “They’re a good place to complain about stuff.”

Andy Dill, Ann Arbor first year, just recently switched from another blogging site to LiveJournal.

“I used to have an Xanga but people couldn’t comment on it and everyone was telling me to switch, so I did,” Dill said. (Commenting is when either a LiveJournal user or reader will leave notes on a particular entry.)

Most users would agree that LiveJournal allows them to express their thoughts to a wide audience. However, there tend to be some negative feelings toward this almost voyeuristic view into individuals’ lives.

Meghan McGuigan, Albion sophomore, doesn’t keep a LiveJournal.

“I just don’t like people knowing stuff about me,” McGuigan said. “If I want them to know I’ll tell them.”

McGuigan admits that she does read her friends’ LiveJournals, because she sometimes doesn’t get a chance to catch up with her friends and wants to know how they’re doing.

Others, however, are more skeptical about LiveJournals. Alicia Reynolds, Oak Park sophomore, said, “I don’t read them because I think they’re ridiculous.”

Reynolds said that LiveJournal keepers are a bunch of self-pitying drama queens seeking attention.

Michelle Aleo, Chesterfield senior, sees both sides.

“In general, it depends because sometimes people put their deepest darkest secrets in there [as well as] arguments, and then people comment and everyone gets pissed off,” Aleo said. “Then there are the other people who don’t post the drama, and they tell about good things that happened.”

To check out the world of blogging for yourself, go to www.livejournal.com or simply start surfing the web.

With so many people who wish to be heard, you’re bound to come across someone’s journal sooner or later.