HW 5b: "The Journey Of Life"

Kline demonstrates in his novel Blog! that the virtual social world of blogging has created a place where individuals can go and express their feelings to others on the Internet. The need for therapists in the future is BELIEVED to decrease since bloggers now have an unlimited outlet to communicate their feelings to others who are willing to listen. Kline CLAIMS that "one must assume that the more deliberatively people appraise and document their lives, the more purposefully those lives will be lived." It is INSISTED here that blogging has such a powerful impact that it allows people to live their lives to the fullest. This is a very bold statement and I QUESTION this because to interact with someone through a computer screen is not the same as talking to someone face to face. There is vital human characteristics that cannot be conveyed as thoroughly as it could be when speaking to someone directly in the present. You cannot visualize body language when you are chatting on IM or in a chat room and a large percentage of what we say is actually non-verbal. So how is it possible that people can be completely clear and exact about what they are trying to say when typing on a computer to a numerous mass of the population? This could lead to major misinterpretations and misunderstandings when reading about others or perhaps others reading about you. For example, when chatting with my friends on-line, it is often hard to distinguish when someone is being sarcastic or when they are being serious. As you can imagine this could become quite complicated and messy. I further CONTEND the importance of the human race to interact with each other in person rather than through a porthole.