When has a computer HELPED me write more? Certainly not after I purchased my first computer, two years out of college, and discovered the Internet. I started playing with the then-free Yahoo! personals, and now I'm married to a fellow I "met" there.
I don't even remember really why I started, though I quickly ran into the Time problem, the perplexing issue of privacy, and what to write and what not to write. I was astonished by the frankness of some of my friends. Having no curtains on your windows can make the neighbors gawk or cover their eyes. Some blogs are like that. I salute cathartic writing; I have filled enough journals to have realized long agothat writing things out is good for my sanity, but online, for anyone to see? One blogger I knew decided to hide her site away from some family members (we're talking call-the-police-interfering) by relocating and changing all the names in her past posts, while another acquaintance removed all pictures of her children. There was no way I could truly journal for the public eye, so what else would I write?
Then came Facebook. Someone invited me, and someone else talked to me about it, and I decided to give it a try. It was fun. It was addictive. The status updates were just a line or two, a postcard, from me to my FB friends.
Why would I call someone and say, "Monkey1 just drew her first picture of a person with fingers and gave it to the A/C estimate guy" or "Monkey2 cried for five minutes because I refused to let her crack an egg" and hang up? I needed to share these things, the tough things because they needed to be said and be done with, to be put out of my mind, and the happy things because I'd forget them otherwise. I couldn't dial the phone without the Monkeys climbing up my legs, but they'd let me type a sentence as I ran by the computer.
I found FB a really useful tool during the winter stay-at-home-sick days -- with two preschoolers and myself, always one of us was sick for a long spell -- a way I could document the crazy goings on. Share them. That was the key, sharing that Monkey1 dumped water over Monkey2's head and blamed it on a green monster, that I tried to make yogurt in the crockpot and it tasted good but looked like white soup, that Monkey2 tried to eat a stick of butter for breakfast, that Monkey1 could wink with either eye, that I didn't know what to make for supper, etc. etc.
However, as more friends were added to my roster, the more clutter there was! Some folks took quiz after quiz after quiz and FB dutifully noted the results. News hounds posted article after article of interest. Pictures were posted. Comments added. It became a chore to sort through who and what. Just as some days I updated my status dozens of times, some other folks did too, which added up to a lot of chatter. It was information overload. And I didn't want to miss any of it -- suppose someone announced she was pregnant? or wanted a playdate? or misplaced their favorite coffee cup?
But, the really really important people were not on FB. They were missing it all. They were the ones who really needed to know that "T is for Toddler in Thomas the Train pajamas calling herself Thumbelina", and or "paper mache is too messy to be fun" and five minutes later "smashing croutons with a meat tenderizer is tons of fun."
I joined on Inauguration Day, and now I've been off FB for nearly two weeks, with eight days of that due to vacation and no internet. I'm wondering if I'll even bother to go back. After all, postcards from the blog work too. Or just old fashioned email.
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