Online Journaling-Why is it so Popular?

In the past few years, with the rise of technology, we've seen a decline in the written word. Instead of reaching for a pen and paper when you want to contact someone, you power up your computer, sit down and compose an e-mail and click send, which ensures your mail, is there almost instantly.

Pen and paper seems to be on the way out. With computers and the internet, young adults are also catching onto this fever and forgetting about pen and paper, and opting for new and better ways to journal. Before, it was obtaining some sort of notebook and writing utensils. Every night, you'd open the book and begin to write about your day, your thoughts, your feelings, your fears; whatever was on your mind.

Now, teenagers and adults are going online to do their journaling. Websites such as livejournal.com and diaryland.com have become popular places to keep online journals and diaries, but why the popularity? What does journaling online have to offer that an old fashioned pen and paper do not?

Well, for instance, it offers friendship. With the old fashioned journals, you can't obtain friendship because no one sees it. With online writing, you can meet a new person who shares similar interests as you, or find someone who knows what you're going through. You know you are never alone because you have someone standing there going, "I know what you've been through."

Online journals also offer a way for you to connect to other people through communities. Communities online are not unlike communities in your neighborhood. You can join communities and post your own thoughts and feelings on a subject, or get advice from people who have been there and done that. These communities also offer friendship.

Online journaling is also a way to keep in touch. If a friend moves away, you can add them to your friends list so they can keep in touch with what is going on with you, and you can do the same. Others see journaling online a sort of cheap therapy, "It's nice to put down your every little thought and not have to worry about who will see it, whether it's private or public it's a type of therapy," says one avid journal writer. As most journal sites are free to write with, this is true. Writing is seen as a major outlet for some people, and writing offers a way for people to get things off their chests without worry, or without having to spend time waiting to see a therapist. Most sites offer a public and private setting. Private settings are only for you to see, which offers much privacy.

The privacy setting can be of much service when you're writing about something that really bothers you, that you feel is not of anyone else's business. You can write about something a friend said to you that really bothered you, or you can write about your deepest, darkest secret that no one knows. Select privacy settings offer you even more privacy than a regular journal would. Not all journals lock, online, you can lock an entry here or there, or you can lock the entire thing.

Another plus that many people see with journaling online is how you get to choose what it looks like. You can switch the colors; add pictures, and words to make it your own. Regular journals aren't as easy to work with. You might be able to change it once or twice, but that's it. With online journals, you are free to change the look and feel as often as you wish.

Online journals also offer easier ways to add more memories to them. Each entry offers a way for you to add pictures from memorable events. Go to prom? Add pictures from your night. Did you attend a wedding? Meet your favorite celebrity? Add pictures! Personalizing online journals is easy, fun and rewarding.

Why not try it for yourself? You just might like what you see.