Hyperreal Voyeurism: The Joy of Blogging

I'm sure everyone who begins a blog has to work through the implications of this genre, and what it signifies about those who participate in it. Perhaps it's a sense of guilt, of being ill at ease with some of the underlying issues involved. I know it is in my case, at least. It's probably wise not to begin such ventures unreflectively, especially given the proliferation of literature on new communications/media technologies, and their implications for new forms of subjectivity and consciousness. If we are going to be transformed (and possibly wacked out!), let's at least have some sense of what's coming and why.

Why blog?
To keep in touch with friends? Well, you could just send out mass emails, or heck, call or write. Is it so central to maintain a hub where you present information (usually inane- come on, let's be honest) and expect people to come to it to check up?

As a journal? In part, sure, but why in this way? Why not keep your own journal, your own running file? Why publish it?

It's fun? Yes, kids, it is. But why is it fun? Why do we like to do it?

I'm suspecting that part of it has to do with the dialectic between exhibitionism and voyeurism. Ok, you say, what they hell?! I'm not trying to get too nuts here, or get too psychoanalytic. But there is some appeal about posting your thoughts, exposing yourself, in public, for all to see. This is in part the appeal of a webpage. But blogging adds more of a personal element, and a sense of historicization, as the information changes, and is added to regularly. We want to be recognized, we want to be noticed. We want others to read our thoughts and be impacted in some way by them.
But there is more. We don't just publish a blog for a select group of people we know. We leave it open to "the stranger". We allow the off chance that someone unbeknownst to us might stumble onto our blog and get drawn in. That raw exhibitionism kicks in.

On the flip side, voyeuristically, we (as readers) find these sites fascinating. We want to know what the blogger has written. We want to peep into their journal, their often unfiltered rants (who moi?) and exposed feelings. We like to catch a glimpse of their cyberside.

I know there's more to it, but I just wanted to suggest this aspect. Perhaps, like the Freudians and the Lacanians after them, I'm just projecting my own issues. But hey, perhaps you resonate. After all, why are YOU reading this?