Blogging Now Good for You, Still Bad for Some

Several users have alerted us to a May Scientific American article that has been getting some attention more recently. Apparently, blogging is now good for you and, at least in this context, is the suggested reason for the explosion of blogging. This is quite the departure from some of the results we have seen in practice for more prolific bloggers.

Comments

bad for some?

[bsDaemon]

I prefer to think of it as, "Blogging good for me, bad for society" -- at least considering what I'd probably write if I had one.

journaling yes, blogging no

[Neil Watson]

Keeping a private journal can certainly be helpful. Sharing it with the world seems odd.

Re:journaling yes, blogging no

[physman_wiu]

Actually some people out there feel a sense of comfort when they post their private journals and then have a stranger be understanding and accepting. They feel as if they aren't alone in this world.

Re:journaling yes, blogging no

[CastrTroy]

Journalling isn't always good. Just ask Hans Reiser.

Re:journaling yes, blogging no

[Anonymous Coward]

That comment made me ill. Want to blog about it?

The difference

[Spy der Mann]

Bloggers who want to blog to maintain a status (i.e. fame, fortune, etc) find blogging stressful. Of course it's stressful, it's become a JOB!

In contrasts, bloggers who do it to vent out their frustration and share a part of their mind with the world, find it fulfilling.

Not quite a discovery if you think of it that way.

Re:The difference

[bsDaemon]

Maybe you should start a blog to blow the lid off this whole thing?

it's all about ego

[petes_PoV]

> Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off

No, it's because most bloggers have the mistaken idea that like-minded souls will seek out and read their stuff, think hard about it and then post an insightful response which re-inforces their self-worth. As we all know, most blogs are a write-only medium, if they have any benefit to the writer it's purely cathartic as it lets the writer vent a bit.

> ... have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences,

If that was the case, sales of diaries would be huge. They aren't. People don;'t write for themselves, they write for their (imagined) audience.

Re:it's all about ego

[petes_PoV]

most definitely not (though the mod system is merely a popularity contest. Say something that the geek-crowd agree with - whether it's right/relevant or not and you'll get modded up.)

Even worse, without the replies/mods and consequent page-hits, advertising revenue would be near to zero

Re:it's all about ego

[omris]

I take three steps to counteract this.

Step 1: set your filter to -1. Then no matter what the mods want to throw points at, you still see all the comments.

Step 2: set your account to display oldest comments first instead of highest points first.

These two steps will effectively negate any effect from popularity contest mods.

Step 3: METAMOD. They give you points to moderate the moderation. Use them. If you think someone's moderation was not appropriate, you get to say so. If people agree that a certain moderator isn't using their points well, they won't get more.

And I think the point of the article was that you writing that here on /. is a coping mechanism, like complaining. It might not fix anything, but it sure makes you feel better.

Be careful, though...

[Quiet_Desperation]

Blogging about Eastasia is still considered harmful, unless we're allied with Eurasia. Wait...

Oblig.

[thedrx]

Blogs are good for you? What about those people who died in a blog accident, you insensitive clod?

It's all about me, Me, ME!

[Animats]

So whining about yourself on your own blog is good for you. But writing about something of interest to others isn't.

Well, it explains the success of Myspace.

"You are not trying. You are whining." Nigel to Andrea, "The Devil Wears Prada".

Writing helps me deal with my mental illness

[MichaelCrawford]

I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in 1985. It's a serious condition: it's like having schizophrenia and manic depression at the same time. The symptoms include paranoia, auditory and visual hallucinations, dissociation, depression - which can be suicidal - and a profoundly euphoric state called mania.

Getting sick led to me making a complete wreck of my life. I lost many friends, screwed up my education and my planned career as a scientist, lost what had been a good reputation.

For many years I tried to keep my illness a secret, but it was a terrible burden to bear. I finally went public with it in 1997, by writing a page about my manic depressive aspect. Click the link and you'll see that it got slashdotted.

But I had a much harder time facing or admitting to the schizophrenic aspect. I finally went public with that in 2003, in my essay Living with Schizoaffective Disorder. I also published it at Kuro5hin, where each of its three installments was featured on the front page.

It's not real obvious to most readers, but I avoided saying much about my own experience in the section on paranoia. Again it was very hard to face it. But again I finally went public with it in 2006 in My Deepest Fear.

You'll understand why I had a hard time facing it if you read the essay. I was getting ready for an ambulance ride to the nuthouse when I wrote that, but, if you'll pardon my shameless self-promotion, I think it's one of the most vivid accounts of paranoia ever written.

I've written a lot of stuff having to do with mental illness, both my own and that of others. I finally compiled an index to it all. I printed hardcopies of most of it, and the stack of paper was over an inch thick!

Someday I plan to publish a dead-tree book about it. What's holding me back is finding the words to explain what I've learned from it all. I want to help others avoid it, to help others who suffer to get better, and to help their loved ones and caregivers to understand it.

One lesson I have learned though, is that the worst of the stigma against mental illness is the stigma that we mentally ill have against ourselves. Our shame for being sick is the main thing that keeps us sick. It's a disease, and not our choice. It's not something to be ashamed of.

As I write this, I've been employed steadily as a software engineer for over twenty years. For eight of those years I was self-employed as a software consultant. My title at my current job is Principal Software Engineer. I've achieved this success despite all the chaos that all those symptoms put me through.

I point this out because I sometimes get the impression that those who treat the mentally ill don't expect us to ever get better. Yes, it's difficult, and progress is painfully slow - but it is quite possible for anyone to overcome the worst madness and lead a happy, fulfilling life.