Seduced by the "Gentle Reader" or How I ended up on the Jerry Springer show

I think that I'm starting to understand why youngsters (in my world view this means anyone under 40) end up posting/sharing/videoing tremendously personal information/moments on the Internet for all the world to see. When I was a career adviser at the university, I was always shocked when young adults posted really personal information/photos on their face book page, or uploaded potentially embarrassing videos to the web, where their prospective employers could view their drunken monologue about what a jerk their current boss is, see them in the wet tee shirt contest, etc. I never grasped why people would go on a show like Oprah, or Jerry Springer, and reveal humiliating and private information.

I get it now - they have been seduced by the Gentle Reader. Blogging is like living in a huge city, such as New York or Hong Kong. The very size of the population gives a person the illusion of complete anonymity. No one will know or care, because no one is paying attention. When blogging one also has the seduction of the imaginary audience who sees, hears, understands, and appreciates whatever one happens to be sharing. In the days of Jane Austen, that person was the Gentle Reader.

I find that I have fallen under the spell of the Gentle Reader. Throughout the day I think about things that happen to me and ways I could write about them. It makes me more aware of my life, because I have this anonymous, compassionate witness who never condemns me for writing poorly or being boring. On the other side of this coin, I also know, and count on, the fact that due to the staggeringly large number of people sharing on the internet, I am as likely to have someone read my blog as I am to be hit by a piece of space debris. It's very freeing (especially since I'm not looking for work).

I imagine that the people on Jerry or Oprah are just like me, only more so. I suspect that they are residents of large cities, and their personal sense of anonymity is so large that they feel unrestrained even in the venue of a television audience. After all, no one THEY know is going to be watching, so why should they worry about what people think? But don't worry, Gentle Reader, we would have to develop a long relationship before I could take my personal quirks on local tv, let alone national!