When Blogging Is Unhealthy

Written by azhar.

Sometimes, I do consider blogging as a form of therapy to help relax my mind. Have you ever noticed that whenever you finished blogging, you just felt a lot lighter? It could have been because you finally threw the heavy guilt away by confessing in your blog or it could have been because you have managed to release your strong feelings and opinions that used to bother your mind for quite some time.

Blogging also provides a space for us to develop our personalities. When we blog to share our thoughts, feelings and experiences, whatever we write becomes a subject of our readers' perspectives. People comment on what we blog about and present feedback to us. This process helps us understand, evaluate and improve our personalities.

Another positive impact that blogging offers is that it can help prolong our friendships. It acts as a medium for us to stay in touch with our friends as we keep our friends updated on our lives through our blog posts. Sometimes, it allows us to relive the sentimental (or funny) moments we had together as friends in the past. All these play a role in prolonging and perhaps strengthening our friendships.

Nonetheless, blogging can be unhealthy when we are addicted to it. Addiction comes when we rely too much on something for our normal functioning. In the case for blogging, the addiction sets in when we start to compulsively blog in order to satisfy ourselves. Where the satisfaction comes varies - it can be from earning huge advertisement revenues, attracting a consistently high traffic of readers or even a steady inflow of comments.

There are three reasons why addiction to blogging is unhealthy for us. First and foremost, it isolates us from the real life. It draws us further and further away from our family and friends. We are too engrossed in finding new materials to blog about and are too excited to figure out how our blog readers will react to it. We tend to spend too much time perfecting our upcoming blog posts so that standard of the blog remains at its peak. We check on our blog once every hour in anticipation of any sympathy or congratulatory comments by our online peers. We begin to lose our attachment to the real life.

Secondly, it can cause a withdrawal to us. A withdrawal is a symptom that occurs when we decide to reduce or discontinue our addiction. Anxiety can emerge once we make an abrupt decision to stop blogging. For example, when we are forced to go on an overseas trip, we may become anxious to know how the blog will progress. We worry that the traffic will plunge significantly when we stop blogging temporarily. In some cases, we may even be anxious to search for things to blog about regarding the overseas trip when we return home. Thus, we are unable to fully enjoy our lives, or in this case the trip.

Finally, the addiction may turn us into greedy individuals. And when greed begins to whisper in our minds, we tend to leave our character behind and blog recklessly. For example, we are not satisfied with the present volume of traffic and want to attract more readers. The fastest way to do so is to post controversial remarks or insensitive articles so as create a tidal wave (which carries our names with it) in the blogosphere.

Blogging can be recreational or therapeutic or both. It is an epicurean activity whereby we share our daily experiences and life journeys with our friends. It is also a quick-fix remedy for stress and depression. Nonetheless, excessive blogging can be unhealthy when we depend too much on it. When blogging becomes an addiction, it drags us away from reality and may poison our minds with greed.

Contact us: tpjcian@gmail.com