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One night in the fall of 2002, while I was procrastinating on a college paper, I did some random Internet searching. During one of my searches, I stumbled across a link to someone's LiveJournal. I clicked on the link, took a look around the LJ site itself, and was intrigued. "This is so cool", I thought to myself. I wanted in to this world we call LJ. I wanted to share my life with the world at large. The only problem was that I did not have an invite code (remember those days?).
On November 29, 2002, I received that coveted LJ invite code. I was finally in (I used to be![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
brightsmile here). I was able to build bridges to other people through my thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and life. Bridges that I thought would be long-lasting due to the nature of this site (we share so much here - it's hard NOT to bond with others here!).
Over time though, I could (and still can) feel these bridges weakening. Not because of a few bad apples (even though I have come across some of those). First, there was GreatestJournal. Who could resist the lure of a free journal with perks that we have to pay for here??? For a time, I cross-posted between here and GJ, and I tried to keep up with some of the people who had left LJ for there. It eventually got to be too much, and I just did not feel as connected to GreatestJournal as I did to here.
Nowadays, I think the biggest things trip-trapping over LJ are - you guessed it - Facebook and Twitter. First, Facebook. For a time, I got caught up in the hype. Sure, it is fun sharing photos and finding old classmates (I apologize - I'm not much of a Farmville/Bejeweled/Farkle/any other games there fan!). However, as strange as this seems, I can never manage to be *me* on Facebook. I always feel obligated to be "fluffy" there - having to pretend everything is "peachy keen like a jellybean" 24/7 to impress former classmates/coworkers/relatives/anyone who I also interact with in real life who are on there.
Twitter is pretty self-explanatory - sometimes, all we have time for is 140 character updates. That's not the fault of anyone or anything really - it's just that our lives are so hectic, that that's all we can manage to find the time for. However, I cannot tell you the last time I logged into Twitter - 140 characters simply does not do justice for what I want to say.
Livejournal really is a special place - where else can I go to be open when 140 characters just doesn't cut it? Where else can I vent or be open about things without drama spilling over into real life? Where else can I say I have had a connection to for almost seven years? I really feel like I am part of a family here.
I have a feeling that eventually, I will be all alone here. Those bridges that I have formed will be eroded completely because some new site has trip-trapped over them. Some new site that just will not feel like home to me.
On November 29, 2002, I received that coveted LJ invite code. I was finally in (I used to be
brightsmile here). I was able to build bridges to other people through my thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and life. Bridges that I thought would be long-lasting due to the nature of this site (we share so much here - it's hard NOT to bond with others here!).Over time though, I could (and still can) feel these bridges weakening. Not because of a few bad apples (even though I have come across some of those). First, there was GreatestJournal. Who could resist the lure of a free journal with perks that we have to pay for here??? For a time, I cross-posted between here and GJ, and I tried to keep up with some of the people who had left LJ for there. It eventually got to be too much, and I just did not feel as connected to GreatestJournal as I did to here.
Nowadays, I think the biggest things trip-trapping over LJ are - you guessed it - Facebook and Twitter. First, Facebook. For a time, I got caught up in the hype. Sure, it is fun sharing photos and finding old classmates (I apologize - I'm not much of a Farmville/Bejeweled/Farkle/any other games there fan!). However, as strange as this seems, I can never manage to be *me* on Facebook. I always feel obligated to be "fluffy" there - having to pretend everything is "peachy keen like a jellybean" 24/7 to impress former classmates/coworkers/relatives/anyone who I also interact with in real life who are on there.
Twitter is pretty self-explanatory - sometimes, all we have time for is 140 character updates. That's not the fault of anyone or anything really - it's just that our lives are so hectic, that that's all we can manage to find the time for. However, I cannot tell you the last time I logged into Twitter - 140 characters simply does not do justice for what I want to say.
Livejournal really is a special place - where else can I go to be open when 140 characters just doesn't cut it? Where else can I vent or be open about things without drama spilling over into real life? Where else can I say I have had a connection to for almost seven years? I really feel like I am part of a family here.
I have a feeling that eventually, I will be all alone here. Those bridges that I have formed will be eroded completely because some new site has trip-trapped over them. Some new site that just will not feel like home to me.
