…or Do You Bring Your Life On The Web For All To See?

I’m a blogger, so the above question is directed towards me as well. We pick topics to write on our blogs about something we like and are passionate about. Most of us tend to steer clear of stuff we just want to block out from the online version of our lives. Stuff like politics, war, (in) justice, life, death, education, the world as it is {which is pretty messed up right now} and so on… Some use those very topics to garner more attention towards it, which is great.

Do you use blogging to get away from it all? Is it a release for you, a parallel life only shared with online viewers, do you use it as a medium to feel normal? Or is it just a neat new hobby that you decided to pick up one day, instead of collecting stamps, and are pretty happy just writing what you feel.

Family And Your Blog

I share my blog with my wife, my kids are too young to know about this stuff. But once they grow up I plan on showing them everything I’ve done.

My parents don’t use the net, my brothers and sister work full time jobs which leaves them very little time to go online, let alone read my blog. They don’t know about all my online activities, like I don’t know everything about their jobs. They keep asking me how I make money, I keep saying well…it’s complicated. I’ve shown them my blog in the past, and they basically don’t get it, which is OK. I didn’t get it myself for like 6 months.

Using Blogs To Reach Out

In the past I’ve used my blog to block out stuff like “online unemployment” {LOL, if there is such a thing}, that’s when I didn’t have any freelance jobs. Somewhere down the line my online and offline life merged together and are now at a comfortable balance.  In the beginning I hardly wrote posts that used any inspiration from my real life.

I’ve accepted the fact that this is all part of one and the other, and if I am to hold any normalcy in it there should be no separation. Of course I’ll keep private matters off.

A lot of bloggers don’t mind showing their personal lives via their blogs. It all depends on you and how far you are ready to let strangers on the web look into it.

Sometimes I feel like getting all political, theological, controversial even - but I usually end up deleting the drafts. In the end you could try to maintain two personas, but I think it’s just easier to maintain one and limit information online just as you would limit information about you between people in real life.

So, Do you use blogging as a “Second Life” or Do you maintain a healthy balance between both?

About the author

Hyder has been blogging for the past two years on this blog. He started Weborithm, his web company, in 2007 and along with designing blogs and websites also releases various web related products.