Writing alone is like alcoholism
Oct. 3rd, 2003 09:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
compilerbitchIt just occurred to me that writing is an essentially solitary act. Enjoyable, a kick in and of itself. Medium as opiate of the individual. But, there is guilt associated with this. Should I be doing something more useful? Does anyone really care about what other people write, still less me?
The analogy with drinking is clear. Enjoyable in and of itself. Damaging in excess. Guilt.
Somehow, people don't seem to mind about drinking as a group activity. It legitimises the act -- the social interaction involved offsets worries about its self-destructive nature. Likewise, LJ allows the process of writing to become shared. It's not email. It's not a BBS, or anything resembling IRC. It's not communication in the strictest sense -- it's instant gratification, click-here vanity publishing. No guilt required.
I love it.
The analogy with drinking is clear. Enjoyable in and of itself. Damaging in excess. Guilt.
Somehow, people don't seem to mind about drinking as a group activity. It legitimises the act -- the social interaction involved offsets worries about its self-destructive nature. Likewise, LJ allows the process of writing to become shared. It's not email. It's not a BBS, or anything resembling IRC. It's not communication in the strictest sense -- it's instant gratification, click-here vanity publishing. No guilt required.
I love it.