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mar 13
2008

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

[SXSW-influenced post #1.] Julia has sworn that she's going to make her Tumblr more mature. This could be interesting/disastrous to watch. Meanwhile, people like Ryan want to ban mentions of her from the internet. It's understandable. However, Julia's most recent post about breaking up and the internet is actually a decent attempt (counterpoint!) at talking about something more substantiative -- and it reveals a lot of what I suspect some people will be talking about in big mainstream media places over the next couple months. Even I have become fatigued by the way break ups have become massive public events!

7 comments

why rex, why?

posted by ashley at 6:12 PM on March 13, 2008

Why do I have fatigue about online break ups? Because it sucks to see you're life portrayed in some way that's out of your control, that's different than the story you'd tell, that's even occasionally outlandish. Julia's point about the recording of everything is a salient one -- more and more people are going to get burned.

posted by Rex at 6:22 PM on March 13, 2008

is this is a case of "it's new to her, so it's new"?

people have been talking about this issue forever. wasn't it at least an implicit theme in the seminal kottke/megnut new yorker article 7+ years ago? and before that, didn't jennicam deal with it head on? and all those kids on diaryland?

it's just something that every new online diarist has to figure out for themselves, i guess. luckily, some people figure it out before they start ruining relationships.

posted by adm at 6:49 PM on March 13, 2008

No, I think it's different. The way IM chats are cataloged, IP addresses are tracked, racy photos are stored on iPhones to be shared at bars, Tumblrs are turning blogging back to he diarists... it feels different. But most of all, it may feel different because of all the scandals. (Or I might concede: it feels different because of all the scandals involving people I know.)

posted by Rex at 6:55 PM on March 13, 2008

Julia had it coming.

posted by marrina at 12:47 AM on March 14, 2008

Tumblrs are turning blogging back to he diarists.

I find this disturbing and exciting. It was hard to live through livejournal mania, the first time around.

posted by taulpaul at 10:34 AM on March 14, 2008

LiveJournal is a great comparison, right? I think the difference between these is that LiveJournal was for teenagers and Tumblrs are for twenty-somethings. Although I'm claiming "it's different," what I really mean is that grown-ups are now participating in the high school public break-up game.

posted by Rex at 11:36 AM on March 14, 2008




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