I am a blogging addict. I have 3 blogs- an online diary, a writing portfolio, and one that I use in my walk with the Christian faith- and I spend close to 8 hours a day just blogging my thoughts on any of the three, or sometimes, all three.

Why do I blog? Some people blog because they want to share events and goings-on in their lives with just about anyone who's interested; some blog for a larger cause- save the environment, feed the people etc; yet others blog in the hopes of gaining instant fame, as with some of the so-called "celebrity" bloggers we read or see so much about when they make headline news with the things they do.

Maybe in a sense, I am seeking that kind of attention too. Maybe, just maybe deep down inside, there is a closet attention-seeking whore just screaming for the world to acknowledge my presence.

Then again, I don't go round plastering heavily Photoshopped pictures of myself on any of my blogs just so to attract attention.

No, maybe I blog because a blog is perhaps a convenient and simple means of ranting and raving to "the world out there", a means to remain sane and vent out all the pent-up frustrations I face in the course of daily living. We all need an outlet to rant, we all need a means to be heard in this otherwise cold and stressful city lifestyle.

Once in my little world online, I'm cut off from the tiredness and stresses I face in the rat race. Quite frankly, I can choose to exaggerate and even conjure up fantasies in my daily stories, and no one reading it will ever know. It's escapism to a large extent, and I sometimes wonder how many of these "celebrity" bloggers do it. How many of them just blog about things that may not be true but intended to attract attention unto themselves?

We've had online games, online shopping, Internet porn, online gambling- now there's another reason to remain fixated in the world of the Internet: blog surfing. Like voyeurs, we go around snooping at the lives of other people as "blogged" in their online journals. We laugh with them, we cry with them, and we sometimes start thinking like we actually know these people whose blogs we read about. Is this something to worry about, really? I do wonder at times who's been reading my blogs, and I wonder too, how much about myself I should reveal in my blogs.

After all, a blog, unlike a convential diary, is not exclusively secret. It's open and available for all to read. Could it be then, that the next time I walk down a street and have someone smile at me or come up and talk to me, chances are that person has read my blog?

Remind me not to post up pictures of my front doorsteps then.

Learn more about this author, Frenchcuffs.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Addicted to Blogging?
We want to hear your view. Write now!