By Volante blogger Darcy Semmler

It all started with the fuzzy pink diary.
The idea of journaling is a time-tested practice that dates back to Charles Darwin, Christopher Columbus and more. In more recent years, though, it entailed a little notebook with the funky ink pens that girls were hooked on writing down every little event that happened in their lives. From the macaroni and cheese they had at lunch to playing with their friends at a sleepover, these essential events were written down so we’d never forget them.
As time went on and the Internet thrived, journaling took on a whole new life.
Blogging has become the new wave of journaling that spans generations and genders. Web sites such as Blogger.com and Vox.com have created a new outlet for those who want to vent, criticize, rejoice or journal about current events and their personal lives. Even KELO-TV and The Volante have blogs at the staff members’ disposal as a way to reach out to the community and discuss the everyday news happening around us.
Now with YouTube bursting in popularity on the Web, video blogging has also emerged as another outlook. People can share videos with others around the world. And some have taken on the challenge of creating a daily video blog as a way to document their everyday activities. Look up YouTube aliases such as ShayCarl or CharlesTrippy, and you’ll find second channels dedicated to their own daily video blogs — just check out a couple of their videos, and you’ll get an idea of what the video blog is all about.
Some people wonder about the point of video blogs, especially if they’re day-to-day. Whether it’s a privacy issue or an entertainment issue, some question if it’s really worth the effort to record and edit all of your personal events for the world to see. Wouldn’t they grow tedious after a few weeks, or just plain grow boring? Do we really have nothing else better to do than to waste five or 10 minutes of our day watching clips of what they did?
Well, we manage to waste our day away watching much worse on YouTube. Many comedy videos are a stretch … there are only so many videos that one can handle before the crude humor becomes overdone and is in bad taste. When someone gives us a peek into their normal lives through video blogs, it suddenly shows us what the American life and culture is about. Even though we live it every day, sometimes people need to take a step backward to see it from a different perspective to really appreciate life. It also shows us who these comedians are as a real person, separate from the written script — that’s when we can appreciate their skits all the more.
Plus, it is a person’s prerogative as to whether they share these videos with the public or not. In a way, the public gives these daily videos a purpose. It’s easy to record important or unique moments in our lives, but it’s also easy to put the camera away and forget about it for weeks on end. These videos remind us to capture the little things in life, along with the big moments.
I admit, I do have my own Blogspot Web site, along with many of my classmates. I also know of a group of friends who set up their own YouTube channel so that they can keep in touch and report on the goings on of their college lives. These versions of journaling have become a way to not only record the little moments, but to share what is going on with friends. It’s amazing how a girl’s fad can grow into something so much larger.