Sharing Yourself Online: Privacy while Blogging

I just wrote a new article about privacy while blogging, which is something everyone (especially kids and teens) should consider when blogging:

As blogging has become mainstream and students from middle-school on up through college and graduate school have taken to it as quickly as wildfire, some bloggers are getting caught up in privacy concerns. Bloggers tend to think, “Write about it now, worry about it later,” believing the catharsis of writing is more important than the responsibility of privacy.

Since so many bloggers are actually diarists, writing in a free-association style that is cathartic, this is not unexpected. In fact, such an exercise is likely beneficial to the writer and helps them socialize in our connected society (and their very connected peer group). But writers need to understand the consequences of such writing up front, and edit as they go (or go back later to edit accordingly).

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 22 Nov 2005
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.