The Usefulness of Blogs Essay -- Internet

The Usefulness of Blogs "Think of a weblog as a journal of one person's explorations as he or she cruises uncharted sectors of the Net, reporting on the interesting life-forms and geological formations (Frauenfelder)." Weblogs, or blogs, are rapidly growing among the cyber population of today. There are many reasons that people use blogs, whether for business, to maintain a relationship, or as a source of therapy for problems that occur in a blogger's life. Most of the blogs that I have observed over the past few weeks have been the equivalent of an online journal. People, or bloggers, write blogs to keep track of daily events in their lives no matter what the significance of those events might be. Growing up, some children keep diaries to write down what’s going on in their life. Children often grow out of this habit of journaling as they get older. However, with the rise of computers and the internet in the past years, people have again begun to rely on journals. Now, though, these journals are online and not as private. The lock and key no longer exists and anyone can see these journals anytime that they would like to. Why would anyone want to write in an online journal where others could see their private thoughts and events that happened that day or week? After reading Margaret Jirik’s observation journal I came across an interesting statement by Malavika about why she blogs. Malavika is the woman who posts to the blog â€Å"My Daily Ranting† at http://www.mydailyranting.blogspot.com/ that Margaret is observing. She states, "Well, I figured this is a great way to whine to absolutely everyone and no one about my one and a million problems so... bear with me? You might get to know me in the process. I think... ...ing to do." Works Cited Frauenfelder, Mark. â€Å"Blogging. (weblogs).† Whole Earth. 22 December 2000. 26 March 2002 <Via www.findarcticles.com [http://www.findarticles.com/m0GER/200_Winter/68617361/pl/article.jhtml]> Grohol, John M., Psy.D. â€Å"Internet Addiction Guide.† PsychCentral December 1999. 26 March 2002. http://www.psychcentral.com/netaddiction/ Grohol. John M. Psy.D. â€Å"Psychology of Weblogs† PsychCentral April 2001. 26 March 2002-04-06 http://psychcentral.com/blogs/ Hoyum, Sonya J. Group C Observation Journal 6 March 2002 ENGL 1102 Discussion â€Å"addictive?† (6.1.1) 4 April 2002 http://caldialogue.bemidjistate.edu Jirik, Margaret. Group A Observation Journal 27 February 2002. ENGL 1102 Discussion â€Å"why?† (3.2) 4 April 2002 http://caldialogue.bemidjistate.edu â€Å"Journaling your Life† 4 April 2002. http://h.arce.tripod.com/journalingyourlife/