'Dear everybody'

The other day I was reading a family friend's holiday newsletter to my 80-something mom. The newsletter was available on the Web for all to see, and my mother was shocked that this friend would make her family's personal news so public. My surprise at Mom's reaction got me to thinking about how differently the generations view the user-driven Web. A grandmother can't imagine writing a letter for global consumption. That's no big deal to me, but as a mom I'm a little amazed at the innermost thoughts and intimate photos teens post in blogs and profiles. In "On the Web, 'Dear Diary' becomes 'Dear World'," the Washington Post takes a look at why many teenagers want to be so emotionally accessible. Two young bloggers gave the Post interesting observations: "blogs actually protect vulnerabilities by allowing for a more polished presentation of self" and "blogs let writers interact while avoiding the emotional risks of one-on-one conversation." So being very public is somehow safer. Hmm, what a comment on teen lives. Then, in an interview for our book, MySpace Unraveled, social media researcher Danah Boyd told me, "Kids are getting all these messages [like reality TV and American Idol] saying, 'Expose, expose, expose.'... We're all living in a superpublic environment getting the message that you have more power if you expose yourself than if someone else exposes you" (for further insight into teen vs. adult blogging, see a post this week in Danah's own blog). Over in England this week, The Guardian ran a collection of views from writers of all ages about "the urge that makes people keep a record of their inner thoughts and everyday impressions."