Blog to know who you are

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They eat, they read, they blog. They watch movies, they game, they blog. Teenagers are increasingly venting their feelings and expressing their views online through blogs and the medium seems to be the perfect safety valve for them to blow some steam.

And they are not alone, even celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan are frequent bloggers and some of them even carry out their personal and professional vendettas through blogs.
Teenagers are thus taking to blogging on the Internet like the proverbial fish to water and increasingly it is being seen as a medium through which youngsters not only express their minds but also construct their identities. “Initially, I blogged to just write, but through blogging I can relate to people better now. So I don't just blog to write anymore, but to also understand myself. I also have a fashion blog which I update regularly as I love to follow the latest trends on the ramp,” says 18-year-old Soumya, for whom blogging has become an addiction.
Amidst the clutter of thoughts, opinions and new experiences, teens often fail to express themselves freely and blogging might just be their way out. Nineteen-year-old Neehara Sanjivi agrees, “Sometimes, there are topics you may not be able to express while randomly talking to people. It feels better to write about it because there are so many opinions floating.”
But how does blogging help them identify with themselves? Soumya shares her view, “I feel a sense of belonging when I blog. Moreover, every time I blog I find myself, the way I am which I couldn’t figure out before as I would always reflect what my friends felt.”
Some of them are trying to explore a different facet of their personality, which they were previously oblivious to, like Neehara who put up recipes of what she cooked on her blog and to her amazement found that they were liked by many. “Since I love food, I cook a lot. Plus, I uploaded my recipes on my blog and a lot people complimented me which was when I realised that I could indeed cook well.”
Shruti Kamala, a student of Badruka College, concurs, saying, “When the novel Twilight came out, I was averse to it and I would ridicule everyone who read it through my blog. While I did that, I began reading the book out of curiosity and surprisingly developed a liking for it.” Sometimes, it’s about identifying with yourself and discovering a new you.
“I am an emotional person and I keep to myself most of the time, but my peers are not aware of that fact. But my blog, where I write strongly about incidents I feel have affected me, brings out my emotional side,” adds Shruti.