“blogs are great. you get to express yourself. friends read it. family reads it. strangers read it, and that’s okay with you. the catch is, when you blog, you create an identity but you can’t always say what’s really on your mind”, without repercussion.
at the risk of sharing too much personal information via our blogs do you think it’s better to blog anonymously or at least set up an online identity, but not under your real name? i always felt like having two identities was living a double life, but now i see it as a small measure of protection.
my identity is no secret, but sometimes i wish i had blogged under the cloak of anonymity. i try to keep my personal life separate from my online life, but it’s challenging and in some ways, limiting.
now, i’m not blogging about anything here i wouldn’t want my mother to read, but my alter ego likes to write too and she has no home training. if i blogged incognito this would be a slightly different blog. i’m not sure i would like that either. maybe because my identity is known serves as a restraint; i have to think twice before i hit submit or publish.
while blogging can be a great outlet for keeping people up to date, receiving support from our online friends and sharing our experiences – even our secrets – we need to be careful what we put out there.
i came across this post from judy called, i have a secret. immediately i had to stop what i was doing and read it, who doesn’t have a secret? judy writes:
i have lived a “fantasy” life for over 50 years. i have portrayed a life that i wanted people to know, not what actually was. i have kept secrets inside that i have been afraid to let out. i have struggled from day to day to not trip over the “baggage” that is my memory. i have a story to tell. it’s not pretty. it would be about my life. it would be about control, brutality, incest. i have wanted to write this story, but could never leave a hard copy around (or even in my computer) for fear someone would find it. i write it daily in my mind with tears flowing profusely. i feel a need to “let it go” by telling it. i thought my blog could be the avenue to final peace but am uncertain whether or not it would be the proper venue. i would need to do it in short, weekly segments…serial form, if you will. my family, my humor and my faith are the only things that have kept me sane. i don’t want to scare you into thinking that i am unstable; i don’t believe i am…i just have a terrible secret and i’m tired of holding it inside. i was hoping you, my readers, could help me to dissect the pros and cons of such a venture.
i tried to contact judy to ask if i could use her post here, but i couldn’t find any contact information on her blog, so i hope she doesn’t mind.
writing is very therapeutic, especially for me, i don’t like to share, much.
i keep my true feelings bottled up and i know that’s not healthy either. like judy, i could never have a hard copy of a journal or a diary, but i still need to let it go.
sharing too much information online can be risky. i opted for a private blog, one that i only share with a few individuals, but i also have blogs that i don’t share with anyone.
if you blog under your real name do you regret it or find it limiting as to what you can share?
and if you blog under a pseudonym or anonymously, what tips can you offer someone thinking of going in this direction?
