User:Angie Shell

Psychological Benefits of Blogging
With nearly one new blog being created every second, there has to be some personal benefit in creating one. Many people create blogs simply to have an outlet or to find something to occupy their time. Most of these people do not realize how easily that blog could change their habits. Blogging can benefit people psychologically in a variety of ways.

Communication
In a world with such a heavy reliance on technology, many people are finding it harder to communicate by the spoken word. Blogs are giving people an outlet to take time, process their thoughts, organize what they plan to say, and present it to the world in a coherent fashion.

Practice
Along with learning how to communicate properly, blogging also forces you to practice writing and finding your own voice. Writing is a difficult process for many and those same people have a tendency to avoid doing so simply because they feel they cannot do it adequately. In order to blog appropriately, you must maintain the blog on a regular basis. This means that people need to continually write something on a week to week basis. Most people will receive feedback from the blogging community and adjust their writing to fit both their personality and that in which the community may say needs to be worked on. As students, many people do not always put much work or attention into their writing assignments if it is not something they are passionate about. Through their want, they put more effort into their writing and content of the writing.

Creativity
Blogs are a creative endeavor. Writing down what happened during the day, how you felt about the movie you saw last night, or how you feel about whatever illness you may have been diagnosed with is all a form of creative outlet. People who may have thought they had no creative abilities and turn to blogging are engaging in their own creative outlet. According to dictionary.com to “be creative” is to be” characterized by originality of thought; having or showing imagination: a creative mind.” In today’s world, “originality of thought” is taking what we were taught and making it our own. As long as you are not requiting another person’s ideas or simply plagiarizing another’s ideas, you are creating. Creating your own self, creating your image, and in the blogging universe, creating your online persona.

Staying on Task
Many blogs have helped people to keep on track with a task or to find something they will follow through on. It provides a relatively permanent document of your progress. In the movie Julie & Julia, Julie Powell starts a blog to push herself to cook and keep on track with her goal of cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook. This is a perfect example of how many people are using blogs to help motivate themselves into doing something they normally would not follow through on. With an interactive setting, blogs help create communities of support for the blogger. Through comments, the community can give support to the blogger thus helping to push the blogger forward. Such positive reinforcement and interactivity allows for more confidence on the side of the blogger. Being able to accomplish something makes everyone feel better, and it is always nice to have someone backing you up.

Community and Problem Solving
With the interactive community setting through blogging, people find others to relate to. People vent about their spouses, work, or personal and health problems. The ability to share your problems with the world is something many people are unable to do on a one on one basis. The anonymity of cyberspace allows for people to open up in ways they would not normally. Finding a person, or people, who have suffered the same as you or are in some way dealing with the same things you are, help strengthen resolve in some people. This also helps when it comes to problem solving. You get to see how people other than yourself deal with the same or similar problems. Many people are just looking for someone to relate to and are more than willing to offer support and helpful ideas where needed.

Social Networking
Through blogging, many people have found new social networks, or learned to work within them. With the help of social networking, people may find job opportunities for writing. In a currently recovering economy, job opportunities, either created by blogging or found through it, help to raise a person’s confidence level.