The Psychology of Blogs I

Those of us who blog merrily away every day or so - and there are millions of us worldwide who do - have to have a reason for devoting so much of our limited time to writing for cyberspace.

What are we looking for?

Some of us just communicate more easily in writing than face to face. In the past we kept diaries or journals where we recorded the events of our lives and our feelings about those events, trying to make sense of an illogical world. But diaries and journals are private and hidden, unavailable for the prying eyes of total strangers. Yet now we enter the same information in our blogs and, if they want to, the entire world can read our thoughts. That totally changes the concept from a means of personal self-exploration into a public disrobing.

Could it be that we are so starved for human contact and personal relationships, no matter how readily available are our cell phones and laptops and blackberries, that we reach out into the cyber world in an effort to make connections? We have deserted our villages and small towns but in so doing, we have lost our basic sense of community.

Is that what we are seeking here?

We'll talk again.