Monday, April 07, 2008

Death by Blogging? Glad I Don't Do It So Often

My last blog post was, er, quite a few weeks ago, and while I’ve been nagged with guilt over it, that guilt is gone, baby, gone. The New York Times (April 6) ran a story called “In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop,” in which they mention the recent death of three bloggers, both from heart attacks, while a third blogger, only 41 years old, survived a heart attack.

Three deaths among the universe of bloggers does not a trend make, but the incredible pressure to continually spit out new news and commentary in a news cycle that never sleeps is clearly a recipe for stress, inactivity, and yeah, health risks.

The article quotes blogger Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of the technology blog TechCrunch as saying, “I haven’t died yet.” The article continues: “The site has brought in millions in advertising revenue, but there has been a hefty cost. Mr. Arrington says he has gained 30 pounds in the last three years, developed a severe sleeping disorder and turned his home into an office for him and four employees. ‘At some point, I’ll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else will happen. This is not sustainable,” he said.

I’ve long wondered about the cost to bloggers of driving themselves so hard to keep up with the endles demands of the digital world, and also felt saddened by how much more the entire concept of news and commentary has been cheapened by the hundreds of thousands of blogs out there. True, many are fantastic, and, while this contradicts what I just said, I’m also glad the blogosphere has finally given well needed competition to the mainstream media, who can no longer afford to avoid politically inconvenient news stories.

But everything has a cost, so I hope that the bloggers working an endless workweek will take a break, hire an assistant, and get out there and get some fresh air. Who knows? The sunshine might help give them new ideas about what to blog about when they hit their computer desks again. 

Posted by judy @ 01:24 PM • (0) Comments  

Comments


Name:
Email:
Location:
URL:

Smileys

Live Preview



Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: