Blogged to Death

Unnamed Kitty

From the New York Times:

They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home.

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Of course, the bloggers can work elsewhere, and they profess a love of the nonstop action and perhaps the chance to create a global media outlet without a major up-front investment. At the same time, some are starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong. In the last few months, two among their ranks have died suddenly.

Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

To be sure, there is no official diagnosis of death by blogging, and the premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an epidemic. There is also no certainty that the stress of the work contributed to their deaths. But friends and family of the deceased, and fellow information workers, say those deaths have them thinking about the dangers of their work style.

The pressure even gets to those who work for themselves — and are being well-compensated for it.

Of course, it's not the act of blogging itself that's the problem.

It's leading an unhealthy lifestyle, stress, and possibly underlying health conditions that are the root causes of the deaths.

People dying prematurely isn't a new phenomenon. Some jobs are more stressful than others and pose higher risks for death.

Blogging doesn't rank as one of America's Most Dangerous Jobs."

So although toiling in the blogging virtual sweatshop could lead to an early death, that's far less likely than if you make your living in fishing and related activities, or as pilots and aircraft engineers.

"In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop"-- That headline is an attention-getter, but it's misleading.

It suggests a trend rather than isolated cases. The article itself does note "the premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an epidemic."

No kidding.

Whatever your career, whatever you do, if you don't take care of yourself, there are consequences.

If you have a genetic predisposition to a health problem, that's a strike against you that you need to address.

It's common sense.

If one realizes that blogging is having ill effects on one's well-being, then it would be wise to make some changes.

It's worth noting that blogging has some health benefits as well.

Falling asleep at the computer is a good thing if you're an insomniac. At least it's sleep.