I'm Not Dead Yet - But Blogging Might Be Killing Me?
Posted April 11, 2008 at 5:25 PM by Ben Nadel
No worries, I'm not actually dying; but, I just read this funny / sad article over on the New York Times titled, "In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop." It talks about the tremendous pressure that professional bloggers feel to pump out blog posts even milliseconds ahead of the competition in order to get the bigger traffic share and therefore the bigger ad revenue share. Now, I believe this article focuses on those who blog for money (in a paid-per-post kind of lifestyle), but after reading it, I think most anyone who blogs on a regular basis can sympathize at least somewhat with the mania that takes over. Apparently, in the last few months, three famous bloggers have had heart attacks resulting in two fatalities (only one of them, Om Malik, actually survived).
That's totally bananas! I like to think that I maintain my sanity fairly well; sure, I my life lacks balance, but that's due to a whole host of reasons (not just blogging). For me, I think the biggest trick to maintaining sanity is to only allow myself to blog at certain times. I find my really creative juices are flowing from like 7am to 9am, before work, so, that's when I blog and do a sizable chunk of my research and development. And, for those of you who stop here often, you might remember that I don't even have the internet at home - this way, when not in the office, I can only think about blogging. I know most people these days cannot even imagine being off the grid at home, but, I'll tell you, when I get home and slip into something comfortable without the temptation to surf the web looking for por- er um, ColdFusion articles, it's pretty gosh darned relaxing.
Maybe the blogging world should take a que from the beer advertising world and start suggesting that people, "blog responsibly".
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Reader Comments
One thing I found interesting in that article is the fact that some of these bloggers are getting paid based on the amount of page views. Wouldn't that only encourage this "blog till you drop" type of behavior? Weird.
Another thing, your creative juices flow from 7-9am? If I'm up that early I'm usually staring into my monitor with a blank gaze. I operate best in the 11:00pm to 2:00am range but die off quickly after that.
And wow, no internet at home? That is pretty awesome that you can do that. I'd get a lot more done around the house if that were the case for me.
@Joe,
Yeah, my brain turns to pudding by like 10:30 am. After that, I am pretty much only good for watching TV :) In the morning, I love the peace and quiet. I love that the lights are off and that no one is around.
As far as the internet at home, you would think that you get more done around the house, but that's not always true :) I find I like to just spend a time resting (when I can).
I totally envy you. Resting would be nice, too. The whole topic of this blog entry makes me call into question my own computer usage, I go through spurts where I'm on the computer all the time (for work and play) and then other times I don't even think about it.
Ah well, spring is near so that'll get me out of the house more. I need to start exercising and getting some fresh air... btw, I saw that you have an iPhone app, AWESOME!
