8. Self-counseling

In the early days of personal computing, there were several programs available as a guide for those who wanted to try self-therapy.  It was a cheap, fast and easy way to work through your problems.  One of those programs, ELIZA, ‘provided a reassuring encounter with an almost-other that seemed to be an extension of self.’  (Turkle, 1995:109)  ELIZA provided much of the same benefit as a human therapist would: it used self-exploration and asked questions as a way to allow the user to open up and acknowledge their feelings.  Though ELIZA was limited by the fact that it was a program, it also had many advantages over a human therapist.  ELIZA was completely impartial.  Everything a user told it remained secret, so they were able to disclose themselves fully, without worrying about a therapist’s integrity.  (Turkle, 1995:102-123)  The program ELIZA can be viewed as a way to keep a diary, but with feedback.  It is not surprising that when given the chance to have humans react and respond to your ideas; many people take that chance and start building a personal reaction-base of their own by writing a blog.