Interviews about writing

In order to find out other people’s writing habits and use of social media, I interviewed four persons on the West Mall on October 3, 2011.

The first respondent I interviewed was the Canadian boy named Alfred. He told me that he kept a personal paper diary in which he wrote weekly. Alfred did not use any social media, which I found surprising based on this young age. Further, he told me that he did some reflective writing on a monthly basis. When I probed him about this, he explained that he usually was at home when he wrote and that it helped him learn things about himself.

My second respondent was a Canadian girl named Sarah. Like Alfred, she kept a paper diary, but she wrote in it every second day. She did not have a blog herself, but she frequently followed her friend’s blogs. She told me that she did reflective writing every second day, whenever she wrote in her diary, and did so because she thinks it helps her organize her thoughts. She even told me that, sometimes, when she reads something she has written, it makes her change her mind.

The third person I interviewed was a Taiwan lady named Chin. She also kept a paper diary in which she wrote weekly. She did not either use social media, and seldom did reflective writing. Nevertheless, she told me that whenever she did, it helped her improve herself.

Finally, I interviewed Julia from Canada. She told med that she posted in social media on a monthly basis but and that she preferred using instant messaging to communicate with friends. Further, she said she does reflective writing on a monthly basis and that she does this when she is at home. She told me that it helps her to sort her thoughts and that it helps her to evaluate pros and cons to a decision.

To conclude, I was surprised of my respondents’ high rate tendency to keep a paper diary and their low use of social media. It seems that people do reflective writing at home and that the frequency varies a lot.