imcomplete reflection? funhouse mirrors. not really.

I went face-to-face against an Eiffel towering task of reading, “Blogging: Digital Media and Society Series,” and today was the day I claimed my victory. It wasn’t very special; no shiny trophy, no day of recognition, not even a baseball team was named after me. (Instead of the New York Yankees, it would be the New York Brian Biscocho’s. Actually - bad idea - scratch that.) My unconscious was chanting, “Pizza party, pizza party, pizza party,” but I resisted temptations. Anyways…it may not have been special, but what’s important is that through reading this book, I have grown more knowledgeable about the history, the progression, and the impact of blogging in today’s culture. Yay!

One particular part of the book that got my pistons moving was how blogging is used as a tool for self-exploration by, “[creating] a reflection of ourselves in a weblog” (Rettberg 120). My definition of blogging is the ability to freely say whatever sense or nonsense that a blogger ponders and wishes to display, whether it is about current events, personal problems, or their weird obsession of frogs (which could be a personal problem). I found it interesting how my concept of blogging could relate. I silently started to deliberate.

Blogging is one’s chance to define who they are to the individuals of the online world. However, a person’s blog does not reveal every single aspect of a person’s life; there are thoughts that are ohk to be posted, thoughts that should be kept secretive, and thoughts that are meant to be kept secretive but are posted anyway. The blogger has control of generating a blog to whatever they want it to be - whether it be fake or not. Thus, the blog could be a self-reflection of who the blogger wants others to perceive one as; I call it an incomplete reflection because it’s not their entire life or the entire truth. Blog followers, stalkers, groupies, or whatever assume they perfectly know the person behind the blog like they were bestest buddies but sadly they’re not.

A tough idea for me to grasp, so luckily I found this quote that expresses this conclusion I’ve come to. Ready?

In conclusion, blogs should be, “characterized…simultaneously as mirrors and veils,” by the way the blogger takes control of displaying and censoring parts of their life (Rettberg 120). peace!