Everybody’s writing today. We’re crafting emails that would make our high school English teacher proud, posting pithy comments on blogs, and editorializing on our own web pages.
Will this kind of discourse replace the act of writing private thoughts in journals and diaries?
I hope not.
Writing something in a bound book daily is a practice I pretty much can’t quit. Some journal entries are no more than my list of things to do, encoded descriptions of dreams, drifty ramblings, descriptions of proud moments or big worries. I’ll doodle, rant and talk to myself in my journal which I move from my bedside table to my purse. I’ve found that if I take my journal on the subway or bus, I’m never lonely.
“Artist’s Way” author Julia Cameron believes putting daily “morning pages,” or stream-of-consciousness writings, on paper with pen or pencil every day is a vitally important practice, a way to connect to any parts of yourself that aren’t being validated in more public contexts, as well as a way to create a stronger pipeline to your higher self or inner artist. Since blogs and social network sites are public displays, they’ll never serve the same function.
Here are some photos of journals that I found on a web site called divinegoddessdesigns.com. The one at the bottom looks most like mine. I like writing in inexpensive accounting journals (available in most office supply stores) because they have page numbers. But I always admire the prettier books you see in metaphysical bookstores, and I buy them for friends as gifts, especially when I know they’re experiencing something “big” (which is almost always, right?).
If young people (I guess I’m thinking mostly about girls) today are growing up believing that their snazzy blog or page on MySpace.com contains all they have to say about themselves, I think they’re very much mistaken. Do you have a journal writing habit? How close is it to your heart?
posted January 20, 2007 at 9:56 am
I haven’t kept a written diary since I was nine, and most dudes in my high school had blogs since 2000-2001, at least three years before the Big Blog Bang of the 2004 election year. Maybe not Myspace yet, but Xanga, Open Diary, Live Journal, and Dear Diary were amongst them…
posted January 21, 2007 at 2:04 pm
I started keeping a journal ten years ago, after having read The Diary of Anne Frank in school. I was (and am) fascinated by the idea that future generations might read my words and understand what it was like to live in a different time (and possibly place). I’ve since completed over fifty journals and I doubt I could stop. It gives me a great place to mull over ideas, reflect on things I’ve learned, and work through what’s going on in my own life. I’ve even started taking notes on church sermons so I can put my impressions into my journal later! I also have a LiveJournal, and I’ve found that what I write in there is definitely tempered by a concern for how much I want other people to read – it’s more for them than for me, really. Right now I’m studying to become a librarian, and I’ve learned that archivists are becoming concerned about the preservation of our records as more and more day-to-day information is transferred and used in digital form. That makes it easier to alter and more likely to disappear from the record. Some archivists suggest that this may become a “digital Dark Ages” – where people are continuing to record information, but too little survives to allow future historians to construct a picture of our lives. I was startled to learn, for instance, that half to two-thirds of all feature films ever made no longer exist.
posted January 21, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Many are the memory trips ,rereading hand written entries from many years past. Not as copious now, but still at it.
posted January 22, 2007 at 1:59 pm
I keep a private journal online where nobody else can read it. There I put down my most intimate thoughts and ideas as well as quotes, song lyrics, and anything that was noteworthy to me on that particular day. I’ve tried from time to time to keep a handwritten journal but online is more convenient for me. Although the other comments made here and by you have got me thinking that maybe I should keep a handwritten journal. Good topic!
posted January 22, 2007 at 4:23 pm
It seems to me keeping a diary serves no real purpose. In the first place,people don’t want you to read it. Because it is personal. And anyone with a mind can reflect back as to what they did in life anyway. For instance;if you came upon your daughters diary and read a few pages,your daughter will hold that against you the rest of her life.So what is the purpose of reading your own diary?
posted January 22, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Before continuing I must humble myself and accept the fact that I am epitomizing hypocrisy in the following statements. The fact is that, this network, of blogs and e-mails that occupies a large portion of many peoples minds is replacing a far greater part of life than diaries and journals. Can you imagine a world where people spoke there minds publicly? Sort of reminiscent of ancient Greece. If one had a strong thought, they would share it, not just with those part of a group who think similar thoughts, but sharing thoughts with all. If everyone shared thoughts with all, not just in specified places where thoughts are designated to go, there would be less fear of public speech and less fear in general. No wonder no-one does it, if it changed anything, it must be illegal. Living life by societies terms, and using a space for “what it was made for” rather than “what it COULD BE used for”, we close the door to potential and open the door to mediocrity. The internet has been so kindly labeled a space to be who you are, and the real world, out there, is a place now for work and consuming. Short of the lessening public domains, parks and such, all we have is the internet, even though that is owned by the corporations as well, we at least can speak without fear of legal repercussions, and the bigger fear of someone actually judging us. The internet just allows people to customize there lives further, to individualize and dis-harmonize with the world that continues to spin with or without them. No-one ever has to see something they don’t like, if they like it and others don’t, they can justify it by seeing it online and being like “Hey, I’m not the only one” rather than looking inside, and being like “Hey, its part of who I am.” And with all this philosophical relativism , If I don’t like something that is true, I can just say “Hey, it might be true for you, but it’s not true for me.” if this is all true then lets blow up the world… since its all relative I’m sure most wouldn’t even feel it, and everyone else would all feel it in there own way. I apologize for using such grim ideas to make my point, but curtain thoughts effect people in curtain ways, and people need to be effected in curtain ways to realize that we are all effected in the same ways, via the universe we are all part of. People use the internet because it is convenient right? You all have busy lives that don’t allow you much time to say what you have to say, and share what you have to share, with people you want to know. You may not even know anyone that is willing to listen face to face, never-mind have the oratory necessary to say exactly what you have to say, or the courage to even try. You may know someone whom you communicate with online, but what about your neighbors, who amongst them could you deliver a thought to and have it well received? Yet we are all so comfortable online, sharing our deepest thoughts, there is no “I” online, only the multi-faceted, omnipotent topic that radiates through and from all within. So wondering if internet based networks of communication are destroying the beautiful attempt to capture the finite we call a diary, look a little further, and wonder what it actually IS destroying. Not to mention the physical technological advancements it costs, and the irreparable damage caused to the world outside of society, the sociological/cultural impact should be enough to shock most into opening there eyes, but part of the impact is that it helps hold peoples eyes shut. I suppose it is all a reflection from some other dimension or level of consciousness I am not yet aware of, but from my view point I don’t have nearly enough endorphins in my body to ignore all of this and pass it off as a minor ascetic loss rather than the latest mutation of the macrocosmic plague it is.
posted January 22, 2007 at 5:13 pm
I’d feel lost without a pen in my hand or a computer in front of me. My mom gave me my first diary when I was 15. It was red and came with a lock and key(thankfully!) Since that tender age, I have kept diaries and journals. After 4 decades, I have compiled quite a library of information intended for my future grandchildren. I want my heirs to know their grandmother even when I am no longer here to tell them my stories. Over the years, the intentions of keeping diaries and journals have changed. Now, I find them to be a source of posterity and a legacy of sorts. I spent 2 years chronicaling (check spelling) using a photojournal approach. That was a great experience. Reading my writings in chronological order is enlightening as I see myself and the world around me changing; hence, my views and philosophies changed over time. I don’t “see” people giving up their love of keeping diaries or journals. It’s the perfect outlet for introverts such as myself. There’s just something romantic, victorian, and mystical about penning your most intimate thoughts on paper.
posted January 22, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Writing something in a bound book daily is a practice I pretty much can’t quit. When I was six, the first thing I wrote in my journal was: “What if I start writing and never stop?” Decades on, this seems to be the case.Over the years I’ve journaled in composition books, lock-and-key diaries, leather bound volumes, and just about anything with pages. My journals are jammed with script and illustrations, including things I’ve cut, pasted, sewn, woven, nailed and wedged into place. They are my place of record and reflection, confession and contemplation. (and of course, l.i.s.t.s.) I write for my-eyes-only, not to please, promote, or serve someone else. Paradoxically, this selfish, solitary activity helps me keep it real in all my connections and commitments.I don’t think blogging or personal web spaces will ever replace traditional journaling. They’re just alternatives for self-expression, like drawing is to photography … is to UTube … is to digital and film. = = = = = = = = = = = To Iris: Have you seen Shooting the Past? It’s a lovely film about preserving the past in the face of progress.
posted January 25, 2007 at 7:04 pm
I’ve always kept journals, but got “frightened away” from keeping my last journal when my boyfriend found it and read it. Of course that set off a fire storm of arguments & mistrust – all because he intruded into MY privacy. Anyway, I then went to keeping my journal online, which is and isn’t convenient because I don’t have a computer at home. Fortunately, I do have freedom to journal in the morning before I start work, or at the end of the day before I leave, but that doesn’t help any when I’m at home & have thoughts I want to get down. When I turned 40, my sister gave me a beautiful “Thoughts” journal and I do put some things down, but nothing like the heartfelt stuff I keep online. I feel like when I’m writing, I’m being more restrictive because of what happened the last time. I enjoy the convenience of online cause i can type as I think – with handwriting, my hand gets cramped. But I think it’s very important to get your thoughts out of your head and on to paper…. or onto …. screen (ha!)
posted January 27, 2007 at 2:43 am
I’ve kept a diary habit since I was seven – But only in recent years has it become more important to me. I write about three times a week in it (On average) – I normally write about what I did that day, what has happened in my life recently, and that sort of thing. I enjoy re-reading old dairies, to see how far I have come (How I’ve grown up, or changed my thinking). None of my friends keep a dairy, which I think is sad – It helps me remember my old dreams, my thoughts about different event (My grandmother’s death, September 11 ect.), I also write in my dreams to try and work out what they mean. I love buying a new diary every year – They are a reflection of myself – One year I had a bright pink, sparkly glittery dairy – But this year I have a plain white one with a quote written on the front. I hope this is something I’ll continue for the rest of my life.
Aura