Mar/094
We Don't Really Live In Public
The joke about "overshare" and "living in public" is that no such thing actually exists. The story actually happens between the status updates, not in them.
When I think back on my years of compulsive blogging, what's most striking to me is how much I didn't say, how much didn't get documented or only got referred to in the vaguest of terms, mostly because I didn't want to upset anyone or worse, have to explain myself. It becomes about pleasing you, the audience, the reader, whoever I happen to be writing for at the time, intentionally or not. The audience that screams at the girl in the horror movie to just run outside or not to get into the car.
And yeah, sometimes I wish I'd said more, even in those webpages that will never see the light of day ever again, that will never be accesible anywhere, ever, but the truth is, I know what happened. I can piece it together.
March 27th, 2009
so, so true
March 27th, 2009
This is so true. My paper diaries, I found, were so much more raw and painful and “public” than 99% of the things I’ve posted online.
BUT MOTHER, THAT 1%. I think it happens sometimes, slips through the cracks, and that’s what assholes want to shame and castigate us over because that’s what they’re afraid of, really.
March 28th, 2009
You’re so right.
The “oversharing” and “living in public” is like making a movie about a person. There’s a certain amount of after the fact rationalized and fictionalized filter. You’re not experiencing all the pins and needles of your or the person’s or whoever’s life in the day to day.
March 29th, 2009
Nice blog you’ve got going on here! Keep it up