I’ve been on the panel of volunteer Mass Observation writers for about 5 years. I find it a helpful form of directed journaling. Over the years I’ve dipped in a

I’ve been on the panel of volunteer Mass Observation writers for about 5 years. I find it a helpful form of directed journaling. Over the years I’ve dipped in and out of regular journaling but rarely kept it up. Instead, I prefer to be asked interesting prompting questions and use those as a springboard for sharing ideas. The prompts and the external “utility” of MO are better for me than a blank sheet of paper or a private diary. In fact, I try to almost never write private diaries, but instead share random diary-like thoughts with other people. It’s less of a black hole and usually results in good conversation. MO is a longitudinal study of everyday life. In my responses to the directives, I sometimes write asides to the researchers who may one day read them.