On blawging and casual acquaintances

So, besides getting horribly lost while driving… Momversation is the procrastination tool of choice today.

No, I’m not expecting a baby or anything. It’s just the entertainment that is Dooce & friends.

One of the topics discussed is ‘real friends vs. online friends.’ I think it’s fairly pertinent to the blawg world, especially since I’m now facebook friends with several blawgers.

For me the distinction between ‘online friends’ and ‘real’ friends is fuzzy. I use the internet to keep in contact with my friends and classmates from Kansas and Miami. A lot of people who used to be ‘real’ friends are now only online friends.

There are also students and professors from my law school who read this blog (either through facebook or wordpress)… are those online friends? Voyeurs?

The internet is terribly convenient. You can ‘read up’ on people. After a few entries or a glance at facebook, you can tell if someone is interesting, skeezy, or boring.

If the person is unsavory you simply close the screen. Done. No awkward dying (or follow-up) conversations or glares from across the classroom!

If someone is interesting, you can subscribe to their blog or add them on facebook…but does this make them an “online friend?” Does it matter?

There are major downsides to blogging, like insta-judging. We judge quickly and assume that people are one dimensional.

When I see someone’s facebook, I glance at their info and a few pictures. If someone adds me with a sloppy-drunk or skanktastic profile picture, then I assume that’s how they are all the time… it works the same way for blogs – depending on when someone finds this blog, they will think that I’m a clubber, textbook nerd, or just plain camera happy.

Another major problem that many non-bloggers/blawgers have is not commenting.

Yes. Not commenting is a problem. When you read a classmate’s blog, especially if they are only a casual acquaintance, you start a one-sided, semi-voyeuristic relationship. This is fine if you don’t go to the blawger’s school, but if you routinely run into the said blawger, then you have a problem.

The problem with casual acquaintances or classmates is that they read a blog and assume that they now know the author. This is a blawg, not the Diary of Anne Frank or Notes from the Underground…

The danger in simply reading a classmate’s blog (without commenting or talking to them in person) is that you’re getting a distorted impression of that person. Bloggers don’t write about everything, so remember you’re only reading the blogger’s take on a small percentage of their life.

I see the affect of this blog and facebook in class. Several of my classmates think I’m constantly clubbing or doing geeky/extraneous legal research. I assume they can only get this slacker-nerd impression from online.

For example:

Reader: “Oh, you probably already outlined all of the restatements huh?”

Reader: “Did ya go out last night?”
Me: “Uh…no…did you?”
Reader: “Well your Mr. Club-body!”

This blog and facebook are a good way to stay in contact with old classmates and friends because they read No634 with the gloss of actually knowing me.

Other bloggers/e-people aren’t reading this blawg to ‘get to know me’ – people read law student’s blogs to learn about someone else’s perception of law school – like memoir or newspaper editorial.

I found reading law student blogs extremely interesting as a college senior. Seriously. Between reading blawgs and the pre-law books (One L, Getting to Maybe, etc.) I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into, which has proven invaluable – I think that’s why I haven’t been stressed or surprised this year…and frankly, why law school is so much fun.

My point is that a blog is only a problem for casual acquaintances, because the temptation is to view a blog as a shortcut around actually talking with a person.

This blog is part keep-in-touch, part resource for other 1Ls, and there is, of course, that geeky-community aspect to it. Reading about other student’s experiences helps me understand mine. I may not have crazy-mean professors, or moot court competitions…but I do have a slutty hobo in my class… in all, the whole blawging thing is all about enjoying the law school experience, and sharing it with others, be it high school friends, other blawgers, or the kid who sits across from me in class.