Purple Grasshopper

A while back the BBC did a short series of shows where the subject matter was keeping a diary. I watched engrossed in the subject matter of the shows, amazed at the quality of writing these people had managed to put down on paper. My own paper journal, I discovered, is far from amazing, interesting or well written. It seems my need to get things out of my head and on to paper doesn’t come across as well as others. Still I keep at it.

I have kept a paper journal to varying degrees since I was 18. I tried to keep one before then but being a teenager, it was full of boys and all the drama that goes with them. That said its still not far off the same now as it was then.  But the show got me thinking, how do I go about changing the writing style of a life time into something that would be more interesting, that would give a better insight into what my life is like now and would mean that some nosy bugger in 50 years would be interesting in reading.

The answer? I still don’t know. For me keeping a diary has always been about getting thoughts on paper and out of my head. A form of therapy if you have to put a label on it. To me it’s just writing, in free form, without good grammar or perfect punctuation. I’ve always felt that putting words on paper a good way to sort out an issue or have a rant. Things that I know wouldn’t be accepted out in public or I need to work out for myself.

I once was told that I was The Keeper of the Archives. It’s a title that suits me and one that I’m happy to have. I keep important things, reminders, mementos, ticket stubs. Each one a tiny window into life. Not an exciting glamorous life, just an average life, my life. But judging by my own excitement on discovering my Grandmothers diaries, a life that someone may find fascinating at some point.

I don’t keep a diary to one day be famous, to be published, I keep one because I like to. There’s something to be said for feeling pen on paper and making real all of your secret thoughts.

The new buzz word seems to be ‘Social Media’.  It’s a phrase that seems to lump so many things into one box. What amazes me the most is the fact that this so called ‘Social Media’ seems to have just appeared in the last couple of years. Around the time that Facebook got to be big. It’s become trendy, the new in thing. All the Clebs are doing it, you aren’t cool if you aren’t on Twitter these days. What gets me is how it’s all being made out to be something new. When for me it’s been a way of life since I was in my 20s.

I missed the ‘start’ of social media on the Internet. I never participated in any newsgroups (although I lurked and read quite a  few to start with) and message boards. I did take advantage of the free AOL disks you used to get in the mail so I could chat on line. From there I graduated to the big kids play ground IRC.  I was shown how and then taught myself how to write small and basic scrips to run on the ‘channel’ I spent the most time on. I learned about shell bots, telneting, and all sorts of other things that at the time were so shiny and new. I taught myself  HTML and had my own website.  I moved on from IRC  and used instant messenger programs such as AIM, MSN, and ICQ. My husband and I used the forerunner of Skype, a program called Pow-Wow, to chat when we were first getting to know each other. Dial up was the only choice at the time so the lag was awful! In the end we gave up trying to talk to each other and just played CD’s using Pow-Wow and used the text box to chat in while the music played.

A conversation with a friend once led us up to the point where we both realized that had it not been for the Internet, we would have never met. It also led us to realize that in fact we knew all the people we did because of the Internet. Either directly or indirectly. It was amazing to think that we hadn’t randomly met anyone in a very long time.  It made me try to remember when the last time I’d met someone who wasn’t connected to the net in some way. And by that I mean I haven’t been at a gathering that hasn’t been set up over the net for like minded people to attend. Even my husband, where I live now and knowing all his friends, are all a direct result of the Internet.

So ‘Social Media’ isn’t new to me it’s just got a new place in the modern world it seems. And with that it looks like I’ve finally become main stream. And that’s a scary thought all by it’s self.