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What is it about telling and reading deep secrets that is so drawing? And why does it seem that that pull is so obviously, and annoyingly, affiliated with Berkeley students?
The obvious medium of telling and reading anonymous secrets is the blog PostSecret, which describes itself as “an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.”
Surprise, suprise: Frank Warren, the founder of the third most popular blog, is a Cal alumnus.
We don’t think that is any contributing factor to the creation of the Berkeley version, Cal Secrets. We have a sneaking suspicion that contributing factors are more like the fact that Berkeley students are just, well, crazy, and need to divulge that. The Daily Cal reports:
“We are already seeing an increase of over 10 percent in volume in the number of students seeking counseling,” said (Jeffrey Prince, director of counseling and psychological services for university health services). “Compared to other colleges and universities, and compared to other UC campuses, we typically tend to see a slightly higher percentage of the student population.
Another suspicion why an exhibit like Cal Secrets works so well with our campus is that we are obsessed with our own drama (well, not like other college students aren’t). This is merely indicated by all the other mediums Berkeley students have latched on to in order to make their lives as public as possible.
You wouldn’t think that this self-obsession comes from boredom, but the website boredatcal.net seems to indicate that. Yes, that’s the site printed on all those annoying sticky notes that plaster the lecture rooms of Dwinelle Hall.
The size of the Cal Secrets Facebook group is also an indication of our self-infatuation with our own drama.
And not to mention the general campus buzz after that lame boyfriend chalked lovey-dovey words all the way from McCone to Wheeler. Everyone was surrounding it, reading it, speculating on it. It was like PostSecret in chalk form.
And we can’t forget the crux draw of Facebook–the ability to update your status regularly to tell everyone what is going on in your head.
And then there’s even AnonCon at LiveJournal during finals.
Why do Berkeley students feel such a need to be public about their crap … and why do we enjoy when others do it so much?
And why do the words anonymous and annoying sound so similar?
At least one person is aware enough of this sick trend to satirize it. At least we hope this Berkeley student (whose identity was not anonymous) was satirizing it when he wrote on the wall of the Cal Secrets Facebook group:
OK guys. I’ll start off the secret-telling I guess. This is something I’ve been wanting to scream from the rooftops for years and years but there was nobody I could tell it to. Here goes:
Back when I was seven, I was out in the backyard hitting baseballs into a net. Well, one of them got away from me and hit my neighbor’s cat in the head, killing it. I told my neighbor that a rock fell on it.
Whoo that feels good. I’m glad there’s finally a totally anonymous place I can get that off my chest.
It sure is great to have a sense of privacy in the world.
Image Source: Harmony Larson, Daily Cal
Mental Health Effort Calls on Students to Divulge Secrets [Daily Cal]
A Week to Show That You Are Not Alone [Daily Cal]
Secret sharing reveals buried fears, regrets [Contra Costa Times]
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