Moblogging and exercise

Ed the Editor's personal blog corner

I was wondering whether blogging is healthy, both physically and mentally, and realised that it depends how you blog. The state of your health depends on whether you are a static or mobile (moblog) blogger.

The most widespread bloggers are the static group who sit at a desk all day and report, rehash or ridicule news / other blogs as it happens. Come 5pm they stop. They could end up in bad shape if they don't look after themselves. There is also a huge subset of this group, the guys and gals who do a personal blog based on their thought of the day. As they publish in the evening or early morning before heading off to a job, they have few blog injuries to worry about. Their job may be killing them but the blogging, probably not.

Healthy Static blogging

I spend a few hours a day huddled over a computer trying to entertain the metaphorical masses, so what toll is that taking on my body? A quick experiment reveals that my lower back is screaming at me to get the hell outside and do some stretching or cycling. Another test tells me I need to get a nice wrist and hand massage from Mrs Ed. MRS ED!!!!

That's better. Suddenly I am up to 100 words a minute, but I am still making 2 miostakjes a second. So blogging has a mental impact on me too. Fatigue is the downside to the stimulation derived from hours of flicking through and distilling piles of information.

So what do you do to keep healthy if you are a static blogger? Simple really. Blog in bursts. (Set your alarm for an hour's time and when it rings, get out for a walk even if you are mid thought. Eventually you get into a routine and write very efficiently.) Exercise in bursts. (Find finger, wrist and neck stretches to do in your chair without getting arrested for obscenity, or try sporty pursuits that compensate for posture problems - swimming or ballet rather than weight-lifting.) Relax in bursts. (I prefer to relax in long stretches, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.) Enjoy.

Moblogging

The second group, which really got me thinking about health and blogging, are Mobloggers. The mobile web log bloggers are opportunists, work agnostic, different. As these mobile bloggers go about their day, camera at the ready, their health issues are not tied to blogging as such, more to the nature of what they do.

Skydiving bloggers, gang bloggers, celeb and party land good time bloggers have more potential pain to deal with than any static blogger, but RSI probably isn't one of the pains. By way of compensation, they have plenty of original material of their own to publish day by day without getting stressed out ploughing through Youtube and co for imagery to complement their posts..

Conconclusion

By adding some moblogging to the mix, you could revamp your blog AND reduce the mental toll of blogging. You don't necessarily have to get into a dangerous or philandering career. As you go about your day, take pictures of funny incidents, weird looking people, noteworthy signs... upload them when you get home and add some text to put the images in context. All original material, almost no interference in your daily routine, a lot of blogging material acquired organically without twisting your spinal column out of shape, trawling for pictures - a hit. At least that is what I am thinking!