ext_7173 ([identity profile] chrissie-linnit.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] chani 2006-05-29 10:15 pm (UTC)

...personal journal were secret (they even had a lock and a key once upon a time)and suddenly they were online!

You see, this is where I want to challenge you, pet. As far as I can see, LJ is actually a far more secure way of writing a personal diary than having a locked book in the bedroom. Here on the ether, I am 100% sure that not one single person I am linked to in my physical life is aware of my LJ id, how to access it if they were aware, and what my password is should they actually stumble across my id and www.livejournal.com

Were I to have a personal diary at home, it would be very easy to identify it and open it should someone be curious. I would positively NOT have said a great deal of what I've shared on LJ in a diary... the risk of causing pain and suffering to certain people in my RL would be too great to contemplate.

No... I think LJ is a very, very secure place for someone to open up and say things that otherwide would keep locked away inside themselves. A great place to get it off your chest (and boy, is mine a big one!)

Perhaps, if you have a very harmonious and close family, lots of friends in RL and a busy and active social life, LJ becomes less attractive. Not that I'm saying everyone uses LJ as a personal diary - although I'd wager a big percentage of users do use it as a virtual soap-box from where to raise issues and observations they would otherwise never have voiced. So, I think there's something rather therapeutic about LJ. Why write it down in a diary when you can share it without risk? The only thing one needs is to be accepting that someone out there might be interested enough to comment and you have to be prepared to accept the variable consequences...

I can see that LJ would need to adapted to meet other needs to remain a desired leisure activity if it most obvious benefit is not what's desired by the user. Then, I think there is the opportunity to create an LJ account, with memberships. But any success is then dependent upon there being sufficient like-minded individuals to keep such a community alive.

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