The cover story of this week's issue of New York magazine deals with the young generation's willingness to reveal things about their private life on the internet through blogs and sites like MySpace. It includes the following passage:
“When I first started out with my Livejournal, I was very honest,” she remembers. “I basically wrote as if there was no one reading it. And if people wanted to read it, then great.” But as more people linked to her, she became correspondingly self-aware. By tenth grade, she was part of a group of about 100 mostly older kids who knew one another through “this web of MySpacing or Livejournal or music shows.” They called themselves “The Family” and centered their attentions around a local band called Spoont. When a Family member commented on Xiyin’s entries, it was a compliment; when someone “Friended” her, it was a bigger compliment. “So I would try to write things that would not put them off,” she remembers. “Things that were not silly. I tried to make my posts highly stylized and short, about things I would imagine people would want to read or comment on.”
Wow, that couldn't describe this site any better. What was once well-thought-out opinions and commentary (well, at least opinions and commentary) is now mostly links and nonsense that I think will attract readers. And now I'm self-conscious about it, as my behavior is mirroring that of a 10th grader.
Anyway, I know I've made this claim before, only to see it fizzle, but I will again try to make a more concerted effort to put thought into the content here, rather than relying on links. I don't have a steady job right now, so I should be able to manage this. Also, I will start tinkering with the "new and improved" blogger and try to spice up the layout. Hopefully I won't accidentally erase everything on here. Stay tuned to see how this turns out.