AlanBarber.Org
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
My So-Called Blog
While I was getting ready for class this morning I had the tv on watching the morning news. Just happened to flip over to NBC and caught probably the last quarter of an interview with Emily Nussbaum, a writer for the New York Times.She did a story on Teens and weblogs called "My So-Called Blog." It's an obvious play on "My So Called Life."
It's an interesting article on Teens and how blogging has become an integral part of many of their lives. We live in a connected world; Email, Cell phones, Instant Messaging, Chat, etc. This generation of teens grew up with these mediums and have taken to integrating them into their lives.
I'm not that old but I do remember when Cell phones were huge and only rich people used them. I was around with Instant messaging was new and hip. I had an ICQ id number in the 2 million range back in the day but my current one is in the 6 million range. Last I check there are something like 70 million registered ICQ accounts. Not to mention the millions on AOL, Yahoo, and MSN. Chat used to be underground but now it's mainstream too.
Anyways, the article shows that most teens use blogs as personal diaries and cover the usual teen topics like crushes, fashion, issues with parents, etc. It goes into details of the interactions of teens on the blogs and in real life as a result of what is posted. While it's mostly about a few teens Nassbaum interviewed she does bring up some interesting questions, including a short discussion about privacy and safety.
quote:
For many in the generation that has grown up online, the solution is not to fight this technological loss of privacy, but to give in and embrace it: to stop worrying and learn to love the Web.
I think Nassbaum is just misunderstanding the situation. It's not that they're giving in or accepting defeat in the loss of privacy. It's a fundamental shift in what is considered "private."
I'm sure people remember in the past how you would never call someone if it was past 7pm. It was a disruption of privacy to bother people when calling that late. As society changed the time has gotten later and later. I think now days most people consider 10pm the cutoff to make calls. Or just like making friends online that you've never met in person used to be a scary concept. I remember back when I first got online. Oh lets see, it was back around '96-'97 I believe. I was talking about friends I know online, people from all over the world like Italy and Argentina(You guys know who you are!), at a family gathering, I think it was Thanksgiving, around '99. My grandmother heard me talking and she was shocked about how open I was with these "strangers". While I was cautions and tried to keep safe the idea of me sharing my real name to people I've never meet was a scary thought to her.
That just shows that every new generation is much more open than the previous. It's not that each generation gives in or admits defeat. It's that the separation of public and private is altered. Sharing life experiences online just doesn't have the danger stigma attached to it for this generation.
To end this I'll give an example of how blogging compares to real life. Think of the classic city home of the 1950's. The 1 acre lot, short driveway to garage, and mailbox at the edge of the driveway. For past generations privacy started at the road. The public connection to the world was the mailbox. Only invited friends and family would park in the driveway and enter. When you played with friends you went to a park or to a wooded lot. You didn't go over to a friends house. That's how you interacted. Similarly, past generations want full online privacy and see the email inbox as the public connection. That's as close as anyone should be to you online.
With my generation thing began to change. Going over to a friends house to play in the driveway or yard was normal but you usually didn't play inside the house of a friends unless you were there for a sleepover or specifically invited in. The privacy boundary changed to the house. Instant messaging is like playing in the yard or driveway.
For the current generation things have shifted again. Kids just nock on the door and walk in to play video games or watch tv/movies all the time. It's no longer a special occasion to be in the house. There are unspoken rules about when you can come and where you are allowed to be inside. This has much to do with the way kids play but it's also just an change in privacy. Weblogs or Blogs are like this. Visitors show up and are let inside. The rules are the bloggers limits on what they talk about. Some people let visitors roam around the house freely while over limit access to public areas like living rooms or basements. So some bloggers only share small amounts of privacy and keep visitors to the family rooms while other expose deep dark secrets and let visitors have roam of the house.
It's a nice way to think about things isn't it.
