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Blogging As A Form Of Therapy 215

Posted by CmdrTaco from the so-sick-of-blogging-stories dept.
wellington writes "According to an AOL survey, blogs are more likely to deal with personal matters than politics or current events, and nearly 50% of bloggers see the activity as a form of therapy."
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Blogging As A Form Of Therapy More

Blogging As A Form Of Therapy

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  • Whew! (Score:2, Funny)

    by plover ( 150551 ) *
    50% of bloggers see the activity as a form of therapy.

    Whew. I breathed half a sigh of relief when I read that.

    • Re:Whew! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by baryon351 ( 626717 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:48AM (#13622530)
      Blogging For One

      The headline of the article says it all, and I'm glad those blogs people write about themselves are doing something good for SOMEONE. I find personal blogs that just constantly run on with someone's personal life to be the dullest reading. 99% of people do the same shit, feel the same guilt and address the same issues as all the other personal blogs out there.

      And everybody feels different. Maybe they should all look hard at each others blogs and see how much people have in common.

      Not that I'm complaining - the non-personal blogs, ones that write about technology, wider life, news, politics, and various other cool stuff makes up for the rest. As for me, I'll stick to whining on slashdot from time to time as my therapy.

      • Re:Whew! (Score:3, Funny)

        by TheRaven64 ( 641858 )
        I think your comment make some good points. I agree.

        Current mood: :-/

      • Re:Whew! (Score:4, Interesting)

        by daniil ( 775990 ) <evilbj8rn@hotmail.com> on Thursday September 22, 2005 @12:00PM (#13622641) Journal
        Not that I'm complaining - the non-personal blogs, ones that write about technology, wider life, news, politics, and various other cool stuff makes up for the rest.

        Who's said writing about news/politics/life in general can't be therapeutic in one way or another? Hell, I rarely write about myself or my feelings in my blog (yes, I have one). Yet the blog entries are always about something else than they seem to be about: they can be either not-really-saying-what-I'm-saying, or just motivated by how I'm feeling at the moment. But just because I'm not ranting about, say, how lonely I am or how bad my life sucks (neither of these necessarily apply to me; just picking two random topics that seem to be quite popular) it doesn't mean I'm not trying to "get something out".

        And I do belive I'm not the only one doing this.

        • Nope, you aren't.

          My personality does not mesh well with other humans or society in general.

          My blog is where I put the crap that would disrupt my mind and abilty to function otherwise.

          It's vile, full of hate for just about everything, and lots of other things.

          Since I write it down, I no longer carry it around with me and can deal with the stuff that I must deal with without that crap getting in the way.

          It matters little if someone reads it or not, or if it says anything or not. Just the fact that it's not cl

      • Re:Whew! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by lidocaineus ( 661282 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @12:13PM (#13622755)
        I find personal blogs that just constantly run on with someone's personal life to be the dullest reading

        While that may be true for many blogs, you obviously haven't found the interesting personal ones. Let me tell you something - most fiction out there is just the same thing done in a different and interesting way. Hence, it it is the same with blogs; they may all talk about the same overall themes in their lives, but the good ones make it either more poignant, meaningful, or somehow universally applicable to the reader (and therefore create a connection). Some can do this through language, others through their particular point of view, but trust me, there are good personal blogs out there. One that I read is so entertaining on so many levels (literary, humorous, emotional) that it's almost overwhelming (and I also have a feeling that the person is actually a well established writer - it's been hinted at in his entries). The thing is, this blog is just an account of his day to day activities, none of which are significantly more interesting than your typical individual, yet it's written to be completely enthralling.

        Most creative writing classes always say "know your audience". What I think makes this blog so interesting is that while he knows their is a potential audience out there, it's not pandered to. There are no silly quizzes, "memes" are avoided, and the usual personal blog garbage is not to be found. Or to put it another way, he knows his audience is him, and *maybe* some other readers. It makes for some interesting reading.

        • Re:Whew! (Score:3, Funny)

          by Vicsun ( 812730 )
          Please share this magical and wonderful blog of happiness that you have stumbled upon.
        • "What I think makes this blog so interesting is that while he knows their is a potential audience out there, it's not pandered to."

          That's how I strive to make my blog. It's a mix of my daily thoughts, rantings on various chat boards, daily events, the photos I take, and a log and simple review of the movies I watch. My primary audience is *me* a few years from now, or when I want to look back and see what I was doing on a particular day should I need to know that and can't remember. It's a way family or

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Yea, hopefully this will kill off some of the "I am a unique snowflake" crap we all inherited from our parents. We're not unique snowflakes, we're goddamn genetic duplicates! We're virtually IDENTICAL! If the human race was a pile of xerox copies, an independant observer wouldn't notice a damn thing different about us.

        I always look around and fume at how everyone is so damn me-centric. Astonishingly egoistic. Everybody wants what belongs to them, everyone wants their share. Some of this is a pure result of

      • Re:Whew! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by iamlucky13 ( 795185 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @01:45PM (#13623527)
        Hence why nobody reads them. I keep an online journal (blog if you must use the accursed word) mostly because I like shiny things (screwing around with PHP/MySQL), but I honestly don't expect anybody to read it except a few family members and friends. If I were some random guy wandering in off the larger internet, I know I'd think my site was almost as boring and unoriginal as reality TV. Unless you're someone interested in what's going on in iamlucky13's life, the only thing my site has going for it is the fact that it doesn't look like a blogger, livejournal, or myspace creation.

        As for myself, I don't even find most non-personal blogs interesting, like you do. In general, the organization and delivery of content is much better from more established sources, like slashdot, NASA, ars technica, space.com, etc.

    • Re:Whew! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Alex P Keaton in da ( 882660 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:50AM (#13622544) Homepage
      I think it more or less comes down to the fact that if you are a decent writer with a somewhat interesting life, your blog, like any personal journal, will be good. If you are a crappy writer in the real world, you will be a crappy writer in the blogging world. (I refuse to use the term "Blogosphere").
      If you have something to say, and an interesting way to say it, people will listen to what you have to say.
      99% of blogs that I have read are poorly written, boring, and in a nutshell, sheer crap.

      • Re:Whew! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by networkBoy ( 774728 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:54AM (#13622595) Journal
        (I refuse to use the term "Blogosphere").

        You just did. :P

        I do agree with you. I have thought about starting a blog (or even keeping a journal here or on paper in my desk), I never do, mostly because I can't stand to read my own writing (when on the topic of discussion). If I can't stnad to read it, then I'm not even going to expect anyone else to do so either.

        Besides, therapy is what my shrink is for.
        -nB

        • Re:Whew! (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Alex P Keaton in da ( 882660 )
          Well, if anything, Blogs as journals are great historically. For example, I have my Great grandmother's journal, but I honestly can't read her handwriting.
          As dry as many blogs are, wouldn't it however be interesting to read a blog from colonial US times, or Napoleanic times etc? Even if they are just inane day to day things.
          I think that keeping a journal is great, electronic or paper. What I can't stand are people who are upset that no one is reading their blog, when no one listens to them at the office/h
        • No, he mentioned it. There's a difference [everything2.com]
        • I do agree with you. I have thought about starting a blog (or even keeping a journal here or on paper in my desk), I never do, mostly because I can't stand to read my own writing (when on the topic of discussion). If I can't stnad to read it, then I'm not even going to expect anyone else to do so either.

          While I agree, and I do have what other consider a blog (I prefer to just refer to it as my website), here we sit looking at each other's commentary on a particular topic.

          • Re:Whew! (Score:3, Interesting)

            by Alex P Keaton in da ( 882660 )
            Yes Bill, but your site is interesting to an outside observer, and I am sure even more so to those who enjoy the things you do (like your geocaching) and people who know you personally. Plus, it is well written.
            Slashdot isn't a blog in that it is a conversation. Think about real life. Having converastion is much more interesting than listening to one person drone on and on and on ad infinitum. Most blogs are like the obnoxious person droning on and on.
            By the way- how is married life?
            • Yes Bill, but your site is interesting to an outside observer, and I am sure even more so to those who enjoy the things you do (like your geocaching) and people who know you personally. Plus, it is well written.

              I appreciate the kind words.

              Slashdot isn't a blog in that it is a conversation. Think about real life. Having converastion is much more interesting than listening to one person drone on and on and on ad infinitum. Most blogs are like the obnoxious person droning on and on.

              A good many blogs that I hav

      • Re:Whew! (Score:2, Funny)

        by Bob3141592 ( 225638 )
        Sure, therapy for them, but all these crappy blogs depresses the hell out of me!
      • I would rephrase thusly: "If you are a crappy writer in the real world, you will be a less crappy writer in the blogging world."

        I find that the fitful, occasional posts I make to my "blog" help me remember how to formulate my thoughts into coherent paragraphs instead of incoherent rantings. You can lose this skill otherwise, for example if you have a job where you work with poor communicators or where effective communication skills are not encouraged or rewarded.

        No one reads my blog and I don't care, it's n

    • Re:Whew! (Score:2, Funny)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 ) *
      50% of bloggers see the activity as a form of therapy.

      Whew. I breathed half a sigh of relief when I read that.

      Please pay $50 for your therapy. You didn't think this was free, did you?

      extra fees may apply for moderation, counter-moderation and metamoderation

    • Hopefully they are not skipping their meds.

  • Writing in blogs as therapy. (Score:5, Funny)

    by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:41AM (#13622451) Homepage Journal

    Tue, Sept 20, 2005
    Urge to kill growing.
    Must paint town red with blood.
    Sun is rising.
    Hear birds singing.
    Looking nice outside.
    Ahh. just what I needed!
    What a great day, better go to work!

    Wed, Sept 21, 2005
    Meter reader coming today.
    Sweet flesh in my slow cooker.
    Bread in breadmaker smells good.
    Too good to taint with meter reader.
    Mmm. Maybe I'll go to the store for some blueberry jam.
    And a nice walk through the park while I'm at it!
    What an awesome day!

    Thur, Sept 22, 2005
    They have no idea I'm watching them.
    They're nothing more than scum to me.
    To be decimated like germs.
    Hrm.. hey Slashdot's new CSS looks nice!
    Wait... argh! Still buggy!
    Can't they do anything right?!
    Must.. not.. hehe heh ehhhhhhh...
    Today is the day I unleash my wrath
    and appease my Dark Master...

    • I'm pretty sure I don't want to read Friday's entry.

      No, wait. I'm really sure I don't want to read Friday's entry.

      • Reading friday's entry means you're still alive on friday.

    • Re:Writing in blogs as therapy. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by heavy snowfall ( 847023 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @12:05PM (#13622684) Journal
      I wouldn't say Therapy (big t) as much as venting. If something pisses you off, you can write about it, and maybe someone will comment on it and agree with you, which is always nice. Therapy is what you go to when you have a problem, while blogging is just blowing off some steam. Related but not the same.
      • I wouldn't say Therapy (big t) as much as venting.

        I dunno, professional talk therapy is little more than directed venting. It helps in the short term to realize that [parents/bosses/friends/war] screwed you up, but eventually you gotta quit obsessing on your history and basically get over yourself. Of all the talk therapy practitioners I went through, none seemed to want to do anything but hear me tell unpleasant stories. Never any solutions, just constant consciousness of the problem. Blech.

      • While venting in a blog entry can be a good way to let off tension, and it's gratifying to have friends and even total strangers commiserate with you, it's important to remember that a blog is generally a public medium. Your friends and family can read it. Complete strangers can read it. Your boss can also read it. Text from it might be brought up years later as evidence in a criminal case. *wry grin* I've been bit by this in the past. Not the legal aspects, although a friend of mine had that problem. Just
    • Hrm.. hey Slashdot's new CSS looks nice!
      Wait... argh! Still buggy!

      Sounds like it's time to make a batch of CmdrTaco Tacos.

  • Old school = Journal / Diary

    Now = Blogs

    Future = Video Blogs
    • 'That Is Soo 1950': Diary/Journal
      'That Is Soo 2002': Blogging
      'That Is Soo 2004': Podcasting
      'That Is Soo Right Now': Video Blogging / Video Casting
      'That Is Soo 2020': Streams of Conciousness downloaded directly From your conciousness
      'That Is Soo NEVER': Reading/Watching/Listening/uploading them.

  • Maddox had it right. (Score:5, Funny)

    by HugePedlar ( 900427 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:44AM (#13622481) Homepage
    When he wrote this:

    http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=ba nish [thebestpag...iverse.net]

  • Blogging and Searching (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cjkinniburgh ( 915605 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:45AM (#13622501)
    Nearly 50% of the blogs in existence are not interesting for an overwhelming majority of people is what i read from this. Thats not to say that all the non-personal blogs aren't just as bad. As Leo Laporte [leoville.com] talked about on TWiT [thisweekintech.com] this week, Blogging is quickly becoming a serious problem with Google, and all the other search engines. Search just about any news topic, and you might find yourself with a blog talking about it, the source of material from said blog is another blog, and the chain will continue until you get to one of a few websites. I think that Google might be going in the right direction with their blog search, if they can use it to eliminate all blogging sites from searches which do not wish to return results from blogs. This must happen for search engines to be as easy and timeless as they have been in the past unless the novelty of blogging wears off, but who knows when that will happen.
    • This must happen for search engines to be as easy and timeless as they have been in the past unless the novelty of blogging wears off, but who knows when that will happen.

      So, say I'm searching for a local restaurant in Apple Valley, MN. I'm going to likely get a list of some (perhaps all) of them. It's going to include the address and telephone number perhaps and the name. Someone might go there and the food could just absolutely blow. They have just wasted their time and money on something that any num
  • It is, after all, pretty much the same as keeping a diary, except that you're (more or less anonymously) telling everyone about your problems. Which is, come to think of it, not that much different from telling noone.
  • Also a form of therapy?

  • what about splogs(spam blogs). Blogspot represents a pretty reasonable sample of blogs. this random analysis [outer-court.com] puts splogs at 42% for blogger.com blogs.

  • are you that hard up for stories? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SuperBanana ( 662181 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:51AM (#13622558)
    from the so-sick-of-blogging-stories dept.

    Then...don't post them? Is Slashdot really that short on story submissions? I submitted a story for the humor section a few days ago about laser-scribed chicken eggs that will "fight terrorism", and it was rejected within an hour of submission.

    Gave me the distinct impression the queue was full of really good stories. I mean, what's funnier than barcoding eggs with a laser, so terrorists don't fuss with them? We like lasers, yes? :-)

  • Like Microsoft Insider Bloggers? (Score:5, Funny)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:51AM (#13622567) Homepage Journal
    Those who know what the problem is are troublemakers, organizations don't like them and tend to re-org them into a place where they (a) will have little impact with their critiques OR (b) will fail and thus can be swept out the door during the first round of layoffs.

    There was a chart on the office wall about 25 years ago which went:

    Project Life Cycle

    • 1. Open acceptance
    • 2. Wild enthusiasm
    • 3. Implementation problems
    • 4. Disillusionment
    • 5. Total confusion
    • 6. Search for the guilty
    • 7. Punishment of the innocent
    • 8. Promotion of non-participants

    I used to think it was funny, but years of work in various shops have taught me this is the grim truth. In effect the steps can be found within Microsoft, the first two where during the heady successes of the early days of gobbling up easily taken markets. Step 3 are the growing pains of trying to forge headway into existing markets against established competitors also the rapid pace of virii and worms stripping the veneer of the solid image projected to businesses. Step 4 is where the management and employees don't see the problems with the same eyes. Step 5 is the big JARBO [slashdot.org] reorg over Vista rollout problems. Steps 6 and 7 are Microsoft hunting down their own unhappy employees and sacking them for the failures of management. Step 8 is when complete outsiders from General Mills, Glaxo, Smith & Wesson and Toro come in and head up departments, over experienced insiders.

    I don't work for Microsoft. BTW I don't work for Microsoft.. Uh, Steve, unhand my ch

    [NO CARRIER]

  • The most irritating new trend, in my opinion, is not the whiny / kitty blogs, which are readily identified, but the "clip" blogs, sites that take a headline of a topic from digg.com or del.icio.us, or some other social bookmarking site, and link to the article with no new content whatsoever. It's as if the blogger is using their site as their own, personal bookmark list, nothing more.

    I have had a site listed on clip blogs quite a few times. While I appreciate the effort that people make to link to it (and,

  • Whaaa?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by nothingx ( 809091 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:56AM (#13622609)
    You mean to tell me the teen girl world doesn't revolve around politics or current events? Inconceivable!
  • If blogging is turning out to be somekind of therapy why don't the people just write their ramblings in a jounal and keep it to themselves. That way all those superfulous hits that appear on Google won't show and we can go back to finding the information we're looking for rather than having to wade through a sea of "I can't believe my bf (gf) dumped me. Why did he do that? Was it because I am anorexic looking? Wah! Wah! Wah!"

  • Not surprising (Score:4, Interesting)

    by isecore ( 132059 ) <isecore@NoSPaM.isecore.net> on Thursday September 22, 2005 @11:58AM (#13622627) Homepage
    Blogs have empowered anyone with the ability to write about anything. Seeing as how harsh and demanding our society has become, I personally feel that it's not very surprising that so many blogs revolve around personal issues.

    As someone who has a long history of suffering from Clinical Depression [wikipedia.org] I know how healing it can be to be able to "bitch at an anonymous audience". Hell, just the simple fact that a lot of my close friends read my blog is a big help. The oldest form of therapy as well is just talking about how you feel, and a blog is certainly able to do that - albeit in a kind of one-way form, but none the less it gives you the power to ventilate your thoughts.

    Blogs don't have to be grand on a scale. A lot of bloggers come of with some weird kind of delusion of grandeur, they write about all kinds of pompous stuff instead of writing about the really interesting things - and then they get bored and tired when they're not immediately greeted with a flood of comments about how awesome they are. Me, I have a little different approach. I write MY thoughts, and primarily it's just for ventilation of my windy head. If people like it, great. If people don't, then please move along, no need to submit a comment about how my writing sucks or something like that.

    My blog often revolves around every-day things, or when the mood goes south I tend to write about that. If people aren't interested it's not my problem since I don't need to please everyone who reads my blog. I have my friends, and over the last year I've attracted a small but dedicated following who read my ravings and rantings so obviously there's something interesting there.
    • Blogs have empowered anyone with the ability to write about anything.

      Hmmmmm, I think the pencil did that first. I remember writing in my journal long before the blog existed.

      The difference is in the audience.

      You claim you don't care what your audience thinks, but you obviously care that you have one. Otherwise you'd write in a journal, or type into your favorite text editor.

      So, why the need to perform for an audience while simultaneously saying you don't need to?
    • Well of course most blogs are about people's personal lives. People write about what they know about. And I know more about my own life than pretty much anything else. Occasionally I'll have a strong opinion on something that I feel like flushing out through writing, and sometimes it'll end up on my weblog. Sometimes I just have a goofy thought and I run with it, and post whatever turns up. But mostly my blog is a way for me to share things with my friends and family without having to tell the same story tw
  • You need therapy if you work for a chair throwing loonie like Ballmer.
  • Thinking about things in general can be theraputic, and turning your thoughts into writing helps you organize what you are thinking about. Journals and diaries have always been good for this, but what makes blogging different in some cases is that it gives an opportunity for the blogger to be part of a community support structure, via comments/blogrings/etc.
  • To improve my writing skills - 28.7%
    OMG like lol!!11 I am totlly imorving mY writingskills w/ this bLog!!!!!!!!
    • Funny, but I think this is a valid point. I started writing random thoughts on my personal site, and a few of my friends suggested that I should write professionally. Now I do (although my PhD takes up a lot of my time). I tend to use Slashdot as writing practice more than a personal site though - I regularly post several thousand words here a day here (yes, I'm an addict, but the side effect of my addiction is that I learn things, rather than that I die young, so I don't intend to quit), which means whe

  • Wow! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Stanistani ( 808333 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @12:02PM (#13622658) Homepage Journal
    Today is the bestest day!

    How do I post a picture of my cat here?
  • I find posting on slashdot very therapeutic.

    I'm lonely.
  • For myself, I see not blogging as a form of therapy.

    I've been doing a "this is what I think about stuff" blog for a couple years, sometimes adding articles several times a week. But I recently deprecated it: turning off comments, deleting the bookmark to it, and basically swapping the whole thing out to disk. I've got too many balls in the air (so to speak), and taking the blog out of my day-to-day juggling act is one step on my road to greater happiness. I have books I want to read... and to write and

  • There are a lot of things that bloggers reveal that should stay private.

    There have been many times when I've gone to interviews in the past or met with clients to have them told me they checked out my blog. Not that anything bad was there but some people write too my information for the world to see.

  • Many are a form of therapy for me. (Score:5, Funny)

    by ChePibe ( 882378 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @12:09PM (#13622713)
    I read lots of blogs, and as I read them I often think to myself:

    1) Thank goodness my life is interesting and does not revolve around my cat (I like cats as much as the next man, but I don't replace the human beings in my life with fuzzballs).

    2) Thank goodness I am no longer a hormone crazed teenager who is in love one moment and ready to commit suicide at the next (ah, those were the good old days...).

    3) Thank goodness I have something better to do than cook up conspiracy theories all day long (if I read one more UFO blog or another blogger claiming to be a "Spook, I'll go balistic).

    4) Thank goodness I have an occupation (while there are professional bloggers, those that post nothing more than rants about the bad employment market and whine about it all day long rather than look for work are not among them).

    So... yeah. Blogs are theraputic. Often times, they can make me feel so much better about myself.

    (the above is sarcasm and, obviously, doesn't refer to all blogs... so let's dispense with the flaming)
    • I read lots of slashdot posts, and as I read them I often think to myself:

      Good thing that I have real worries like bills and getting through college so I don't have time to complain about frivolous things and what other people complain about.

      (All in good fun. :)

    • I read lots of blogs, and as I read them I often think to myself:

      1) Thank goodness my life is interesting and does not revolve around my cat (I like cats as much as the next man, but I don't replace the human beings in my life with fuzzballs).
      2) Thank goodness I am no longer a hormone crazed teenager who is in love one moment and ready to commit suicide at the next (ah, those were the good old days...).
      3) Thank goodness I have something better to do than cook up conspiracy theories all day long (if

    • Well, you do read them, so I wonder what that says about how interesting your own life is.

  • Makes sense. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BigZaphod ( 12942 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @12:09PM (#13622715) Homepage
    There was a time when people used to sit around on the porch, in the living room (hence the term "living" room), the kitchen table, etc, and actually talk to each other deeply. I think we humans need that kind of thing. For some reason, that does not happen much in our modern culture. A lot of blogs are kind of an unconscious outreach for that kind of thing, I think. We used to freely give each other therapy on a daily basis - now you have to pay for it and it's seen as a sign of weakness. Blogs offer a sort of new and hip way around that cultural barrier. It is still no substitute for real, honest, caring human interaction - but sometimes it might be all that's available.
    • There was a time when people used to sit around on the porch, in the living room (hence the term "living" room), the kitchen table, etc, and actually talk to each other deeply.

      Hmm, TV or socializing with friends or family. You choose.

      I think we humans need that kind of thing.

      Yes, we do. Its a prerequisite to being "human", do a search or read about feral children if you don't believe me.
      • Hmm, TV or socializing with friends or family. You choose.

        The other person(s) have to choose too, otherwise you'd have no one to talk to even if you wanted to.

        Its a prerequisite to being "human", do a search or read about feral children if you don't believe me.

        Why wouldn't I believe you? I voiced almost the exact same sentiment.

  • Surprised? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by cemysce ( 622241 )
    Why should this be such a surprise? Blogging is like writing in a journal, except it is online. Writing of any kind can be a form of therapy, why should blogging be any different?

    I really don't understand why people make such a big damn deal about blogging. It's just an extension of journal writing in that it is published online, and as for it being a different kind of website, it is just a content management system used as a journal. Can somebody please tell me what the big deal is? Are the statistics
  • Bah! Blogging isn't as theraputic to me as posting comments and rants on Slashdot!
  • What about alcohol induced blogging as a form of therapy? I call it blearging. Before writing you drink an entire bottle of Jack Daniels. Then practice the following in that I'm-throwing-up-kinda-voice "Ralph, Earl, bring out the Buick." or "Ralph, Earl, bring out the gorilla." Next sit down at the keyboard and begin blearging. Oh, and try not to piss yourself.
  • Blogging is the cheapest way to get some "head laundering". Why pay shrinks to talk about one's personal longings and anxieties? Simply register with a free blog account and pound your keyboard and your anxieties away.

    My fellow Slashdotters ought to understand this sentiment -- as we crank out these comments, we are venting, and therefore undergoing some form of self-therapy, and it doesn't cost a dime. What bloggers do is very similar to what the commentators in this space do. I write about movies o

  • In Victorian Times, Journals were the Thing (Score:3, Interesting)

    by WillAffleckUW ( 858324 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @12:22PM (#13622830) Homepage Journal
    and now it's blogs.

    Same need met, fairly similar concept, and in those times London and NYC had postal delivery five times a day, allowing one to share notes and such as well.

    Mind you, back then that was the technology. This is similar in some ways, but not that surprising.

    Next we'll bring back the Jet Pack as personal transportation device, or personal Steam Locomotives (we have a 200+ year supply of coal in the US, even if oil/gas are rapidly disappearing) ....
    • Yes, Dr. Samual Johnson, if he were living now, would have been one hell of a blogger. Same with Samual Pepys, who would be more of the type of personal blogger we are discussing. Of course, in the latter case, he was writing for posterity. I don't think his journal was published until following his death.

      That said, what's wrong with keeping journals? (or diaries, if you will) Why be so presumptuous to think anyone else in the world would care to read your daily woes/rants? I would venture to guess that it

  • Not forced to read... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by jmilezy ( 904134 )
    Blogs are fine. At least you are not forced to read them. If you do go to someone else's website, it is through your own volition only. Blogging is fine. It's your fault if you subject yourself to someone else's misery online.

  • All true (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JiveDog ( 871841 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @12:34PM (#13622928) Homepage
    Just four weeks ago, I would have been one of the many Slashdot cynics crapping all over this post.

    However, out of the clear blue, my Crohn's Disease [wikipedia.org] came back from out of nowhere and I went from a leisurely vacation to a 5 day hospital stay complete with heavy helpings of shots, IVs and a naso-gastro tube up my nose and into my stomach.

    Feeling miserable, I started up a blog just to chronicle all of this and joke around about some of these truly awful things that were happening to me. As it turns out, it's the most efficient way to share what's going on with the people who care about what's going on and I don't have to write/tell the same stories over and over again.

    As it's taken a life of it's own, I've found that it's not only helping my friends and family understand what's going on, it's helping me work through everything as well.

    And as for whether or not you agree or disagree with this, it really doesn't matter. A personal blog/site is just that...personal. No one asks anyone else to read these types of things unless the author is going out and setting up Adsense accounts and creating Technorati profiles. Furthermore, it is the individual's choice to read something or not...

  • ...then are Sports Blogs [emesefsportsview.com] kind of like physical therapy?
  • I agree 100%. Expressing myself in any form relieves a great deal of stress for me. So talking, writing, and playing music work wonderfully.

    There's no doubt in my mind that this is true for others as well.

    Keeping things bottled up is very stressful and frustrating, and for me, those things are very paralyzing.
  • Blogging is just people showing off their pathetic, meaningless, dull lives.
  • Journal keeping you fools. Writing in your diary. Of course it is theraputic. Please tell me they didn't spend a large $$ goverment grant to figure this out.
  • How many pubescents use LJ to stalk the girls who won't talk to them in real life?

  • Exposing yourself to your billion or so friends (Score:3, Insightful)

    by wintermute42 ( 710554 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @01:09PM (#13623228) Homepage

    People may find it cathartic to discuss some of their deepest feelings on their blog. But sometimes they seem to forget that the medium they are using to express these feelings is the Internet. Blogs may feel like on-line journals, but they are journals millions of people can read. Indeed most blogs are ignored, but you never know what will catch on.

    Bloggers perhaps comfort themselves with the idea that this is an anonymous medium. But in general the anonymity is illusionary unless you have a hackers skill at hiding your tracks. And even then you have to be careful about posting recognizable detail. The criticism of your spouse or your boss may come back to haunt you. It has with many people.

    When ever you post material on the Internet in an anonymous forum you should consider if you can live with it being connected back to you. If you might find this unpleasant, but not horrible, then perhaps it is worth the risk. But if you're blogging about your adventures with sex workers, drugs or the stupidity of your boss and management chain, then you may pay a price if you become known as the author.

  • It worked when my daughter was in the hospital (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kbielefe ( 606566 ) <karl,bielefeldt&gmail,com> on Thursday September 22, 2005 @01:16PM (#13623276)
    My daughter was born three months premature last year, and had to spend those three months in the hospital, during which she had 4 surgeries. If any of you have had a child in the hospital even for a few hours, you know how stressful that is. I had a few days where I was so anxious I was physically shaking.

    Anyway, blogging every night when I got home was very relaxing. It helped me to put the day in perspective and look back to see her progress that was difficult to see hour by hour. It also had two unforeseen benefits: I have a nice detailed record of the first 3 months of my daughter's life, and we didn't have to answer the same difficult questions over and over from concerned family members. It's far from great literature, mostly just a factual account that a stranger would find boring, but for me and my family it is priceless.

  • Since there is usually a ~40% margin of error in polls, we'll say that 90% of blogs are used as a form of therapy ...and that explains about 90% of blogs!
  • First, I should disclose that my blog, The Splintered Mind [blogspot.com], deals with personal issues and is often a form of therapy, though I like to believe that others may find the entries entertaining, useful, and sometimes even funny (even if unintentionally). Certainly the comments I receive from time to time reflect that.

    That being said, I don't know how applicable the results of this poll are to blogging in general. I read an awful lot of political and technology blogs and not a single one of them is on AOL. In

  • This isn't new (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rcw-work ( 30090 ) on Thursday September 22, 2005 @02:48PM (#13624103)
    The phenomenon even has its very own word [wikipedia.org]. I'm shocked, shocked that no one has mentioned it yet.

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