You aren’t quite sure how it started; perhaps a friend recommended it to you like a drug dealer in a dark alley. Or, maybe you were up late one night, surfing and came across it in the wee hours of the morning. However you ended up here, one thing most bloggers have in common is that it started out innocently and now they are addicted to blogging to some degree. How can you tell if you have a blogging addiction? Ask yourself if one or more of the following sound familiar:
1. Page Rank.
The first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is race to the computer to check your page rank. Starting the day off with a great page rank sets the tone for your whole outlook on life for that day. Heaven help those around you if your ranking fell overnight. There will be no living with you until its back up.
Publish or perish!
2. Publish! Publish!
Publishing a post a day is more important than good hygiene. Skipping a shower once in a while is normal, however, repeatedly foregoing bathing to get one more fact checked, edit your spelling and grammar, or finding the perfect picture to accent your post borders on unhealthy. I’m sure your family and friends have commented on the smell by now and if you find a bottle of Febreeze sitting next to your monitor, you definitely have an issue. Two spritz under each arm, please, for the love of GOD!
3. Wait! I have an idea for a post!
You accidentally walk into traffic and almost get hit by a bus because you are jotting down ideas for your next post. I’m sure it’s happened more times than you care to admit. You are out running errands or on your way to work and a sudden inspiration strikes you and you have to write it down before you forget it. Next thing you know, a camera crew is shoving a mic in your face and asking you about your near death experience. You respond with, “Hold on a second, I have to write that down!”
Blog or die!
4. I Read A Post…
You start every conversation with, “I read a post about…” The blogosphere is filled with wonderful, thought provoking, helpful posts, but when it becomes your sole source of information, you just might have a little problem. Try flipping through the channels on cable, turn on the radio and listen to some talk shows, or, heaven forbid, pick up and browse a newspaper. At least you’ll look normal.
This is what ‘addicted’ looks like!
5. Intervention
Your family talks about holding a bloggers’ intervention for you. There comes a time in every bloggers life when it’s time to step back and re-evaluate. Time away, even for a day, is refreshing and helps clear your head. Heck, you might even get some inspiration for even MORE posts! Like how to recognize the signs of blogging addiction!
6. Page View Addict
You habitually check your page views to see if they have gone up or down. You just published your most recent award winning post and you are anxious to see what everyone thinks of your masterpiece. So, like a monkey with OCD, every five minutes, you find your monitor displaying the latest statistics for your blog.
My followers are #awesomesauce!
7. Followers
You have more followers than friends. Holidays roll around and instead of heading out to celebrate with friends and family, you have dedicated the day to discussing the holiday on your twitter party. Or sharing your favorite posts with your followers on your Facebook fan page.
8. Comments
You look for the comment box after everything you read so you can leave a meaningful comment and vote it up. Leaving a comment is generally a good idea, unless it’s at the drive through and you want to leave a comment about the menu and the lack of helpful information, video and ability to share on social networking sites.
Blogging is SO not a waste of time!
9. Family Time
Discussions around the dinner table are centered on what’s trending on Twitter. One of your children informs you that they have a science project coming up and your first response is, “You should do it on ‘#SocialMedia, #RobotWars, or #HostessTwinkies’.” You probably missed them rolling their eyes at you because you just had a break through on how to tie your latest post in with blog hop scheduled for tomorrow.
This is a drama free zone – please move along.
10. Drama
You know more about your loyal contributors than you do about your own kids. Audrey’s son, Jimmy just graduated from College and has a job interview in California next week. Robert’s wife, Becky ran off with her best friend to find themselves in Rio. Your significant other has no idea who you are talking about and stares at you blankly while you run through the soap opera of your loyal followers. When you finally finish, they ask you if you actually accomplished anything today while pointing at the huge pile of dishes stacked in the sink and the starving dog licking the last crumbs out of his food dish. Thank goodness the kids are old enough to fend for themselves and your husband had a big lunch at work.
Resistance is Futile.
In The End.
If you can say yes to all of them, remove yourself from your computer and enter the nearest crisis center for immediate help and detox. If you answered “yes” to one or more, there may still be help for you, but where is the fun in that? Keep writing, you have not been completely assimilated yet! Better yet, go find an awesome Twitter Party or Facebook blogging group that will welcome you with open arms. These like-minded individuals will completely understand and sympathize with your predicament.
