It might seem like smart devices, personalized apps, and social media ushered us into an age of optimization. But Victorian-era diarists, writing about and responding to a time of rapid change, were already practicing a form of self-monitoring and performative self-improvement. This era of progress was equally an age of anxiety, however, and diaries also became records of failure. In her enlightening Aeon essay, historian Elena Mary examines this “golden age” of diary-keeping and draws astute parallels to our own heavily documented, anxiety-filled lives today.
Nineteenth-century diaries show a growing middle class engaged in a constant quest for self-mastery and productivity. With the invention of printed commercial diaries came a new way of looking at life and new organisational possibilities. The future could be mapped out, goal-oriented, solution-focused. The Victorians were great innovators, but progress was Janus-faced. For every leap forward, a renewed pressure to go further, and faster, to do better, be better.
More picks from Aeon
Beyond Greece and Rome
“A dramatic shift in perspective is producing a much bigger, broader and more exciting view of ‘the ancient world.’”
The Looting of Science Fiction
“Tech titans claim the genre inspired them. But all they’ve done is graft their politics onto stories of a better future.”
Skill Nostalgia
“Is all the beekeeping, baking and leatherwork just escapist fantasy or the start of a radically human approach to work?”
The Hypercurious Mind
“ADHD isn’t merely a dysfunction. It’s best understood as an impulsive motivational drive for novel information.”
Reversing Extinction
“Technologies of preserving and reviving organisms are already redefining the meaning of life, death, and extinction itself.”
Orcas and Ourselves
“Sea pandas or sadistic killers? These enigmatic creatures invite contradictory labels that say far more about us than them.”
