Death by Blogging?

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Today I read an article in the New York Times about the demise of two famous bloggers who blog for a living. Its called In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop. Interesting article.

I’m not sure if people will actually die from blogging but one thing is clear. Blogging is an unhealthy activity. Physically unhealthy that is rather than mentally. For most of us casual bloggers it is probably mentally stimulating to engage in discussions. It is also an avenue for us to vent our frustration. That is much better than keeping it inside. Not only are we able to vent our anger, we also get voices telling us “Yes, I feel this way too sometimes” so we do not feel so alone.

However on the physical aspect, there is no denying it. Blogging is unhealthy. Hours and hours of having our eyes glued to the pc screen can’t be good. It leads to a sedentary lifestyle and sometimes it can get out of hand when we can’t control the time we spend blogging leading to relationship problems. We should be spending more time with our kids or spouse for example. For those at work it can be a major disruption too if you have to keep on checking your blog for comments throughout the day! It can also create sleep problems too. If you have ever experienced waking up in the middle of the night thinking about some blog post idea than you should know what I mean.

Lets face it. Blogging is a little bit addictive so we have to learn to control it ie we mustn’t let blogging take over our lives. I have learned to control my blogging by doing less blog hopping. Oh, I do love to read all my favourite blogs and catch on with whats happening to those bloggers but theres just only that many hours in a day. So I have no choice but to reduce my blog hopping. I do however still write more frequently than I should since I have 3 main blogs which I love equally and I spend too much time on them. Another area

I’ve cut down is the admin part of blogging. I’ve stopped playing with my templates and trying to change and tidy up things around too much because that too is very time consumming. I’ve stopped doing all those things that are supposed to increase traffic like submitting to directories and pinging services except occassionally. Heck, these things take time. I’ve also stopped writing paid posts from lack of opportunites rather than as a control measure. Fortunately, otherwise my blogging would be even more out of control.

Thats basically the two main things I’ve done to control my blogging hours. Don’t blog hop so much and don’t play around with template. Oh yes, and one more thing. I try not to blog during the weekends. In fact I try not to go anywhere near the pc during the weekends. What about you? Is your blogging under control or do you live to blog? What have you done to control your blogging hours?