January 4

Blogging

I’m taking part in EdublogsClub and this entry is about my history with blogging.

I think I started blogging in 2000/2001 when I got a livejournal (my account is now deleted). I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit I joined because a frenemy was on the site. I can’t remember my first posts, that’s probably a good thing because at the time I was an angry teenager on the cusp of my first romantic break-up in a small town with not much going on. All my friends were going to university, moving away, starting their jobs or starting a family. I felt like I was going nowhere so I’m certain I was whining about that. Regardless, I started blogging and I enjoyed it. I gradually started customising the layout, then adding links/pictures to the posts. I joined communities and made friends. I started finding out about cybergoth events happening in the nearest big town, so I started going to them. From there I met a bunch of people that went on to became my reallife friends. I kept in contact with them through our blogs. I eventually deleted my livejournal account after a few years because it lost favour to Myspace.

Since then, I’ve had about a dozen blogs which I have used infrequently and deleted. I enjoy customising layouts and I like interacting with others through blogging (probably because my anxiety makes reallife interactions difficult). I like blogs within closed communities, because sometimes that makes me feel safer when I am writing about personal things. I tend to start a blog when I’m experiencing a big change in my life (or if I’ve been triggered and I’m having a big ol’ existential crisis). This blog was starting when I came to university – I wanted to write about the culture shock, but I haven’t been able to write as frequently (or as openly!) as I hoped.

My favourite University of Brighton blogs belong to my favourite colleagues; Alumni, Careers, Elearning and Radical Brighton. Outside of university, I occasionally read Tukru, Sean, Obesity Timebomb, Arched Eyebrow, Kelvin and Vegan in Brighton. I added the RSS feeds to my favourite blogs to my Outlook so I can read them at lunch in work (I know subscribing to RSS feeds is an outdated thing to do now but I love them!)

My goal in doing EdublogsClub is to be more open. I often want to blog about political thoughts or experiences of being a survivor but it just feels like something I’m not quite confident to do yet. I’ve started blogging about my mental health over the past couple of years – that was a big step for me – and it has really helped me deal with things as they happen. I have also found it interesting to look back at my blog entries when I’m having a tough time so I can remind myself that these feelings pass.

 


Posted January 4, 2017 by N¡na in category EduBlogsClub, Uncategorized

About the Author

An alumna #brightonforever

5 thoughts on “Blogging

  1. Sue Waters

    Hi Nina

    I chuckled when I read your comment “I had a good laugh remembering my first blog” because I also reflected on my earlier blog posts when writing my post on my blogging story. My earlier posts are very different from how I now write.

    Can’t believe there is a World out there that is growing up not knowing about RSS 🙁 I personally use Feedly for subscribing to RSS.

    @suewaters

    Reply
  2. Robert Schuetz

    You share terrific insight Nina! I can certainly relate to episodes of trial and error blogging.
    Like Sue, I don’t know a better way to support “digital executive functioning” than with at least one RSS reader.
    Bob

    Reply
  3. Sue

    G’day Nina,
    It was so much easier when Google had their own feed reader but now I have retired from teaching I don’t read as many blog posts. Hopefully this challenge will get me back into the swing of reading blogs written by adults rather than just the student ones I read in the student blogging challenge I run.

    Maybe I need to get an RSS reader going again.

    Sue @tasteach

    Reply

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