Why Do People Have Diaries?

[Noomi]

I have an online diary. I keep records of the things I have done, doctors appointments for example and just random stuff about how my day was.

 

[HUGGY]

Trouble with diaries is that they are woofully incomplete documents. If ya gotta write down a few words to remember later..how are you gonna remember ALL of the other things that are affecting your thoughts at that moment? Was the sun shining? raining? relationships? random events? recent or even past events? Too much happens in a moment let alone a day that can set the "mood". Maybe it's just me but "context" has a lot to do with my thoughts at any given point in time.

To REALLY mean something later you would have to be "Steinbeck" to capture enough flavor to relate to even your own words as the memory of the moment has long faded.

Everything including yourself is changing all of the time.. What you thought a year ago could have evolved into something completely different by the time you read all that old crap. Most people can't even make sense out of the here and now. How can stick figure sketches from the past help in the understanding of what is right under your nose or your field of vision later?

 

[Katzndogz]

Perhaps the government should ban diaries!

 

[AquaAthena]

What the hell is wrong with you guys? Why you gotta write everything down? Can't you goofs keep everything in your heads? I suppose you count with your fingers and toes also....

A couple times when I was a kid relatives gave me diaries and journals... I burnt them when I couldn't get my dumb ass sister to take them.

Don't you guys know that a diary is a liability? I think some pretty whack shit... the last thing I need to do is have the evidence lying around for somebody to use against me.

Also...isn't a diary the very next thing to talking to yourself out loud? I just don't get it. I can see writing a book for others entertainment... I've done that... but to write about your self for your own entertainment is fucking lame.

Your thoughts?

I never could get into the routine of keeping a diary, but different strokes??

 

[Mad Scientist]

Usually it's because they've eaten food that's too spicy.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

I wish I'd kept a diary my whole life, because all I'd have to do is edit it, embellish and tweak it a bit, and I'd have a great novel manuscript.

I use two-year pocket calendars to keep track of information (write my weight down EVERY day), note when I go to the doctor or other notable events or observations. I write down when I started using a new Sonicare brush head, for example, so I no when to discard it and get a new one. When I opened a bag of dog food so I can see exactly how long a bag lasts. That sort of thing. Oh, for example, I forgot to write this down...my husband quit his job last Friday. Okay, I've written it on there now.

I have these little calendars going back for at least 10 years. I have daily records of my weight going back 15 years. So I can never say a weight gain snuck up on me.