OK, the headline is a bit on the sensational side but that’s what this NY Times story is implying. The writer, Matt Richtel, tells the story of two recent deaths that was apparently caused by too much blogging.
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.
You Got To Be Kidding Me?
The only thing I have to say about this story is, you got to be kidding me? No wonder the mainstream media is losing ground so badly to the Internet. Some 60 year old has a heart attack. It must be caused by blogging! I guess the fact that Om Malik weighs something like 400lbs has nothing to do with his heart attack, right?
The writer goes on to talk about TechCrunch fonder Michael Arrington gaining 30lbs in the past three years and tries to tie blogging to the cause. A quick check of TechCrunch shows Arrington made a grand total of 21 posts in the past week, or three posts per day. If that is blogging too much then we all better stop blogging right now before we die!
This story reminds me about everything that is wrong with the mainstream media. It ranks up there with that story about the teenager who was struck by lighting while listening to his iPod. Let’s see, kid was mowing his lawn in a thunderstorm while listening to an iPod. What’s the lesson? Don’t listen to an iPod or don’t mow your lawn in a thunderstorm? If you’re mainstream media, the lesson seems to be don’t listen to your iPod.
Maybe this is the NY Times’ way of getting bloggers to quit blogging so their paper can survive for a few more years. The really stupid thing is, most people reading the story will now be concern that their friends/kids/family members are now at risk because they blog.