A comment by one of my students in response to a previous post sent me back to the literature to look at work by James Pennebaker of the University of Texas, Austin. Pennebaker has written extensively on the health benefits of expressive writing. He generously provides pdf files of most of his work on his website, linked above.

One interesting aspect of blogs from Pennebaker and his colleagues is the comparisons between female and male bloggers on variables such as pronoun use, hyperlink use, and “blog” word use [1]. According to these authors, women and men both blog with relatively equal frequency overall, but older women (48+, which I suppose is old in the world of the Internet) only blog about a third as much as older men.

According to one interview, Pennebaker does have some reservations about the benefits of blogging about personal challenges. According to this article, Pennebaker recommends using journaling to “…stop, stand back and look at your life….to make ‘life force corrections’ and then, well, go back to living rather than ‘a little too much navel gazing.'”

A good example of using a blog to work through a challenge (although as a big sister, I confess to some bias) is my brother Leroy’s blog, My Cancer, for NPR. Not only is Leroy a gifted writer, but he has inspired many other people who are struggling with cancer. His blog generates hundreds of comments on each post. Personally, I often find it difficult to read. I see the words, but hear the voice, and I am devastated that my smart, witty brother has to go through so much pain. There is that survival guilt issue.

Leroy also generously shared his experience in a documentary for the Discovery Channel.

 

 

I’d be very interested to know how many students blog. Some data indicate that 90% of bloggers are between the ages of 13 and 29. If you’re one of those and want to share, I’d love to post a blogroll of student bloggers. 

1. Schler, J., Koppel, M., Argamon, S., & Pennebaker, J. Effects of age and gender on blogging. Retrieved on November 5, 2007 from http://lingcog.iit.edu/doc/springsymp-blogs-final.pdf

 


5 Comments

JacobAlv87 · November 7, 2007 at 1:55 am

I know what you mean about reading blogs from someone you actually know. It’s much more easy to read something written by a stranger and feel less emotion about the content, rather than being able to put a familiar face to the words. I had a friend…well I’d say he was more of an acquaintance… who was so happy and outgoing in person, but when I came across his blogs they were very dark and sad and they were far different from his perceived sunny disposition. But that was his way of letting his feelings out. Just as blogging is for many other. I personally do not have a “blog” or website, but I do have a facebook/myspace account. On myspace you can post blogs for people to read OR “bulletins” that are sent on side-feed to every “friends” page on your list. These “Bulletins” seem to be very popular for venting quick thoughts or expression emotions at the spur of the moment. I often post many bulletins because sometimes it’s just nice to see what other people have to say and what support they may offer. Even if nobody responds, it still helps me to get it out there.

nichol.myers · November 7, 2007 at 11:37 am

I firmly believe in the power of a “connection with the outside world.” And, as far as I can tell, most Americans in today’s day and age spend FAR too much time indoors — most vocations require the use of a desk, pen, paper, computer, etc. I’m thankful to see people taking a deficit and turning it into a benefit.

Once upon a time, when I was a Cuesta College student with two small children at home, ICQ (which is an antiquated version of AIM and Yahoo Messenger) was my link to a real human being who lived somewhere outside a fifty mile radius of my house… quite the feat for me to meet a perfect stranger and actually commit to talking to that person on an ongoing basis. The ability to push all safety issues aside (because, after all, who’s gonna REALLY find you via your IP address?) plays a huge part in a person’s ability to connect with another via the internet.

However, according to the quote in your blog: [Pennebaker does have some reservations about the benefits of blogging about personal challenges. According to this article, Pennebaker recommends using journaling to ”…stop, stand back and look at your life….to make ‘life force corrections’ and then, well, go back to living rather than ‘a little too much navel gazing.’” ] leads me to an alternate way of viewing things: I do believe people need a REAL life with REAL live human beings as the counterpart to one’s own meanderings. Too much of a good thing really isn’t a good thing, as the saying goes.

nichol.myers · November 7, 2007 at 11:55 am

By the way, I do have a blog myself called “Cal Poly Dolly–my life as a student.”

FIND IT AT calpolydolly.blogspot.com

I hang with a rather large crowd of people who stand both in awe and disgust of the stereotypical Cal Poly student. This is my way of dealing with the dichotomy of my enjoyment of this college and their dismay at my mingling with the “upper crust” young college student. It is, as the blog’s description accounts for a “tongue in cheek” account of my adult life experience as a re-entry student at a major university whose regular attendees are under 24 years of age.

Laura Freberg · November 7, 2007 at 4:03 pm

In spite of my interest in technology, I confess to not having ventured out into the world of Facebook or MySpace. Somehow, that feels like I’m sort of seeing stuff that maybe my students wouldn’t want me to see.

Nichol, I’ll track down your blog and link you. When do you find time to write?

cat tran · November 13, 2007 at 10:12 pm

It’s not surprising to me that 90% of bloggers are between the ages of 13 and 29. I think I was 15 when I was first exposed to the world of online diaries and journals. Some of my close friends and I had online journals, and looking back, I see that it was a way at our age to express everything from our excitement to our frustrations. It was an attempt to express ourselves, not only through our writing, but also through the artistic aspect of it (there were many ways to be creative with the layouts and such). I quickly grew out of it, finding that I became more conscious about what my audience thought, thus eventually became less satisfied in its use. It’s amazing how many online journals and blogs exist nowadays, especially among the young adults. It’s good to write and record our thoughts somehow, and if having an online blog allows a person to get their ideas out, then I see it as a great outlet to utilize.

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