I was surfing the Web and came across a site that tried to explain the difference between an online Journal, a diary, and a blog. I’m sure in the author’s mind there is a difference but from what I’ve experienced the difference has become blurred, maybe even non-existent.

Here is the site in question and below are my basic interpretations of the author’s definitions of these three forms of writing.

Diaries: Records an individual’s day, life, and thoughts. There isn’t a focus on a purpose or goal. (I wonder if Anne Frank would agree?)

Journals: A personal record of events and thoughts, often based on a theme or type; dreams, goals, family, spiritual themes, general, etc. The author goes on to say that the major themes can be on self-discovery, creativity, life events, problem solving, emotional introspection, and self-improvement. A journal’s purpose is to reach a specific goal. (It seems to me that the themes can also be the journal’s goal).

Blogs: A shortened name for Weblogs and records a persons thoughts on a particular subject. Some blogs stick to a particular subject, while most record current events and the individual’s thoughts and perceptions on those events. A quote from the site, “Private, intimate thoughts are not revealed in a blog, it is a record of opinions.”

I think I understand what the author is trying to convey, though his/her definitions still blur the line between these three forms of writing. Diaries have been around for thousands of years. Even cave/rock drawings could be loosely labeled as diary entries. If diaries never included intimate thoughts, than why the need to lock them? I haven’t found a specific time in history when journals were introduced but it appears that the words journal and diary were similarly defined until the 1960s when Dr. Ira Progoff, a psychologist in New York City, introduced workshops on the “Intensive Journal method.” He called a personal journal a “psychological notebook” for life exploration and psychological healing. Until then the recording of intimate thoughts and emotions for personal growth and well-being were not exclusive to the journaling process.

Then Weblogs come onto the scene as technology opened a door to a wider audience and made it easy to record life events and allowed people from diverse and similar backgrounds to read and interact with each other. The biggest difference between diaries, journals, and blogs is that blogs were designed for an audience, many designed for their audience to interact with the author, and they are an online phenomenon. While there are online journals and diaries, they did not originate solely for the online community. I have read many blogs that do write about their intimate thoughts and feelings with a focus on personal growth. They are a personal-growth journal, a blog, and a diary by definition. Perceptions and opinions are interconnected. You cannot have an opinion without a perception, nor can you have a perception without first having a thought. Thoughts generate an emotional reaction, that reaction generates a perception, and when written down an opinion has been formed.

My personal opinion is that there is no real definable difference between journals, diaries, and blogs. Blog is just a new name for journal and/or diary, created to fit the time and technology. The content of a blog can fall into a specific category but so can a journal and a diary.