Generation Y Bloggers Respond To NYT Article About Blogging Dangers

Just a few days ago, The New York Times published an article about the health risks associated with blogging. Here's the introduction:

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.

The content of the article is making the rounds and eliciting reactions. Perez Hilton weighed in with his thoughts on CNN. And while some bloggers think the article serves as an important warning, others think the Times took the story in the wrong direction.

Immediately, I see a connection between the trends described in the article and the problems with the new career ideal. But, I'm still mulling over my thoughts.

I was curious about how other Generation Y bloggers' reacted to the article. Did it arouse concern that we could meet the same fate as some of the bloggers it mentioned? Or are we better at handling blogging demands because we've grown up in a multi-tasking our way through an information-saturated society?

I sent out some e-mails and I've pasted responses below. Please note, the responses below appear in the form that I received them and were not edited.

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From Rebecca Thorman:

Stupid, stupid, stupid. For Gen Yers, it isn't blogging that's bad for our health, it's our work ethic. We get a bad rap for it, but really we work ridiculously hard because there's so much to do. We want to check off everything. And most of us are depressed in one way or another as the result of all these choices. Blogging is one way to take a hold of all that and gain a bit of control and feel as if we might actually be making a difference.

From Jennifer Robinson:

I can understand what it’s like to be overcommitted to blog writing. I have been writing blogs for a few years. Looking back, I can see the evolution of my writing and blog styles. When in college, I blogged about personal topics. Now, I am inspired by my day job and write about business and professional development.

In all, I actively contribute to four blogs and have a couple of blogs on the back burner. When life gets busy, it’s easy for me to let my blogs’ content or posts suffer because I’m not doing it for the money (and if I didn’t have a day job, I would try to make more off of blogging). I contribute to blogs because I have passion for community, collaboration, and the sharing of information. My blogs don’t take over my life nor do blogs take over the life of many bloggers I know.

The behavior portrayed in the NYT article makes me think the blog authors who suffered severe health problems became obsessed with blogging. Always be cautious of the balance between passion and obsession. Obsession is never healthy. The people in the article happened to be obsessive and they happened to be bloggers. Heart attacks were around long before blogging. Hearing how it may have contributed to death helps raise awareness.

From Ryan Paugh:

The truth is it doesn't surprise me. I'd be a liar if I said I have an easy time managing my "work life" and my "life life."

Personally, I don't have the ability to let it come to lack of sleep, becoming isolated and basically strapped to a computer. I love real interaction way too much. But it's easy to become addicted. Especially when money is involved. Not to mention he ego trip when a post makes it big.

Still, these two guys who passed away tragically were not members of Gen Y. I always got the impression that the reason we work so hard now is so we can not work so hard later. At least that's what I'm trying to do.

By age 50-60 I don't want to be strapped to a laptop, sacrificing my physical and mental health. I want to be enjoying my family, friends and some well-earned rest.

From Monica O'Brien:

To be honest, I'm pretty skeptical of this article. It sounds like these bloggers are not taking care of themselves - like any other profession where you sit at a desk, you need to make time to exercise 3-5 hours a week. You need to eat regular meals that are reasonably healthy. Hire someone if you can't get it done yourself.

The second thing that bothers me is the constant pressure these bloggers feel to keep up-to-date with the news. Why not instead get a trusted partner, preferably in a different time zone (a US/Australia partnership might work well) to share the "news-breaking" duties with? Then you can sleep at night.

These symptoms have little to do with blogging as a profession - the bloggers in this article have an addiction to the internet. It's understandable - I get that antsy feeling when I haven't been on the internet for a day too. But if you have self-imposed stress and are not willing to make lifestyle changes because you are afraid your blog is going to lose money, you can expect to have health issues similar to the ones you would experience under stress.

The part about the $10/post is so true. It amazes me that any of the jobs on ProBlogger get filled because the pay is so shitty. Still, this is the result of supply and demand. There are too many people who are able to write and willing to write for that wage, so it stays at that level. Do I think it should be raised? Heck no, that would just make more people quit their jobs to start blogging; and then competition would get even more fierce. Call it sweat shop wages, but it's just reality - no one said you could make a good living off of blogging! Most people don't make good money off of selling their artwork on the side of the road either.

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Rebecca, Jennifer and Monica seem to think that the blogs aren't entirely to blame, rather it's the way the medium is used. Ryan points out that because this sort of work isn't well suited for older people, we're doing it now so that we can relax when we're in our 50s.

What do you think? Do you agree with Rebecca, Jennifer, Ryan or Monica's thoughts? Or is there something else we should be focusing on?