Group Hug & PostSecret
Internet Confession Projects

Perhaps there’s a level of voyeurism involved. Sure, every now and then it’s nice to get a glance inside other people’s heads and know what they’re thinking (without them knowing you know.) Mostly, however, I think the beauty of Grouphug.us is rooted in the same principle that has kept housewives glued to soap operas since the heyday of radio (and what, incidentally, brings me back to Degrassi Jr. High week after week)–it’s nice to know that other people are more fucked up than you are. Well, at least as fucked up.

This all-access web log allows people to post anonymous confessions on any topic they see fit. Be careful to read the basic guidelines on posting before you contribute, though. The Group Hug staff deletes any confession that violates their, admittedly very loose, rules… eventually.

Not near a computer and just need to get something off your chest? Maybe you find the typed confession just a little too… cold. Worry not! Group Hug allows anybody to leave a confession on their phone line, but note–long distance charges will apply. The best confessions get played or read on the site’s podcast, Audiocrush, which should liven up even the most tedious of commutes.

Of course, there are other sites like this out there. An ongoing art project, PostSecret consists of mailed in, hand-designed postcards with a deep secret of the artist’s scrawled in some way over the picture. Some are fairly tongue in cheek–like the drawing of a dog farting with the admission of the designer that they always blame the crime on their pet. Others, however, mix words and images to move the viewer and create in them a real sense of empathy. One such example is the simple image of an ultrasound photo with the words “I know she’s not mine…” and on the back: “I love her anyways.”

The tighter screening process of PostSecret allows it to be a bit of a more advanced project than the basic online contribution format of Group Hug. Yet, both sites serve an important and different function. While PostSecret has created a gallery setting for people to release some inner angst through artistic expression (and, it should also be noted that they have displayed many of the works they’ve received in an effort to raise money for suicide prevention), Group Hug does just what the name implies–it creates a virtual community setting where people can come together in an effort to get things off their chests. And while, as I have stated before, we online viewers may tend to view these things out of a sense of schadenfreude or simply to get a bit of easy Internet entertainment, we must remember that for many of the people contributing to these websites, the act of relieving themselves of long-kept secrets is something they very much need. And hey, just telling the world that you have a crush on the girl in the office down the hall can be pretty important too.

Reviewed by Aaron Kahn