‘Hit Sluts’ and ‘Page Pimps’: online diarists and their quest for cyber-union

We live, as we are everywhere reminded, in an era where the term ‘self’ and its attendant meanings inform our daily concerns and preoccupations. From the late twentieth century to the present, the literary genre broadly known as life writing has flourished.This article examines how computer technology has made it possible for millions of people to set up online diaries, personal home pages, personal web logs (blogs) and webcams for the sole purpose of exposing things private to the public. In focusing on the relationship of online diaries, in particular, to our contemporary preoccupation with audience, I discuss how our present sense of self is shaped by our culture, which is predicated on image and entertainment. However, in tracing an earlier tradition of diary-writing, I show that diaries have historically had public and posthumous ambitions. The technological innovations offered by the internet stimulate, enhance and multiply the means for self-expression, but they do not inherently change the motivations for life writing, which have arguably always been to communicate and connect. Online journaling is an important addition to the field of life writing and warrants further critical and academic attention.