Blog Addiction – What’s the remedy?
As we enter the height of the political season, I feel compelled to read every single blog under the sun. I feel the whole range of emotions as I read through blogs that pump up my candidate and show good news for him, just as I do blogs that tear him down or show bad news. It is much like the emotions I feel when I watch my favorite sports teams play. Yes, politics is more important because the country’s future is at stake. But my PERSONAL future is unlikely to be affected dramatically based on the outcome of this (or just about any) election. In 1860 the country’s future was literally on the line. Today? Not by a long shot. And funny enough, voters in the 1860 Presidential election followed their traditional partisan habits more faithfully than they did the politics of secession. Yes, even in the nation’s greatest crisis the hard core of partisanship prevailed over the electorate.
Politics, for the most part, is about abstractions and I get wound up about abstractions. When it gets real – usually at the local level – I get less wound up and more pragmatic. After all, I go through my daily routine dealing with obstacles in a fairly practical manner. If I have a student who’s missing class, I deal with that. If I have a pile of papers to grade and I don’t want to get to it, I find some way to procrastinate and then go about the grading. If I have an obnoxious student in class, I do my best to defuse the situation. Unless the problem becomes truly threatening – and it very rarely does – I don’t get that worked up about it.
I love my job teaching history at a small liberal arts college. I can introduce students to the past in ways they’ve never thought about before. To see students “get” the Second Great Awakening or the Market Revolution of the early 19th century, or the complicated questions surrounding Reconstruction, or struggles of immigration and urbanization in late 19th century America is a real joy.
But I find myself spending more and more time obsessing about politics. While I’ve followed politics closely since 1988, when I was 15 years old, I’ve never sunk more of my mental energy into it than I do now in the blogosphere.
Sometimes I feel I’m contributing something insightful here at The Moderate Voice or at some other blog. Sometimes I’m just venting and letting the emotions of the exchange get the better of me. But rarely do these interactions bear significantly on my real life. Still, I get genuinely depressed when things look bad, and positively giddy when polls look up. Why?
Like every other election year, this one is filled with stupid non-stories, pseudo-outrages, false character attacks, and pointless media swarms. How much of our attention is captured in these fights? (As a historian I’ve read about similarly irrelevant exchanges in the 1840 election, so the politics of irrelevance is nothing new. They were no more “serious” or “issue-oriented” back then than today). How much of MY energy is sucked into these fights? Does obsessively reading every blog about the latest “scandal” really make a bit of a difference? I can donate some money here and there and I can add my opinion and try to sway a few people, but I really don’t have much of an impact. It seems, ironically, that my obsession over politics is inversely proportional to politics’ real consequences in my life. And my addiction to the blogs only feeds the frenzy inside my brain.
If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably felt this too at some point. When does it ever end? Will my brain ever accept that it’s ended – even if my candidate has won? Can’t I just be apathetic for once like all those happily ignorant folk out there? Why do I care so much – when there’s so little I can do and the consequences are so small for my actual life?
I’m a blog addict. And I bet a good portion of the people reading this are too. I make all sorts of crazy assumptions about people who post here and elsewhere in the blogosphere, even though I don’t know who these people are. For all I know, my great blogging nemesis is my wonderful neighbor next door. And that does not comfort me one bit.
So what to do about it? The only answer is a self-imposed limit on blogging. Spend maybe 15 minutes in the day and 15 minutes in the evening on the news and blogs. I can get caught up on what the big story is in that amount of time, even if I don’t have the chance to read every rant, concern troll, or cut-and-paste job in the wider blogosphere. Yes, here at The Moderate Voice comments are much more civil and informative than many other places. But still, it’s so easy to get sucked in.
Do you feel this way? Do you find yourself literally getting lost in the abstract world of political blogs and wonder where the hell your day went? Do you find yourself unable to pay attention to things that really do matter in life because you’ve got some really nasty commenter and blog posting gnawing around in your head?
If not, you’re lucky. I envy those who can turn this world on and then turn it off. For those of us with more obsessive personalities, the political season is like a black hole. What’s the remedy? I’m all ears.
20 Responses to “Blog Addiction – What’s the remedy?”
Elrod, I suffer from the same malady, and I expect others here do as well. One good counter for me is spending a certain amount of time outside doing yard work, tree work or just taking my dog for a walk. Physical exercise is a great balm for the troubled soul, and what sentient political watcher wouldn't be troubled in these strange times? Anyway, I wish you luck and luck to all of us who experience these trials. You're right, sometimes it would be nice to turn it off and on at will.
JSpencer,
That's always a good idea. I've been picking a mandolin a lot lately and it's a great way to get the mind off politics. Unlike watching sports, it's actually creative.
Wow. Somehow you have entered my head and stolen my exact thoughts. There isn't a line in this blog that I disagree with. There are times when I become so emotionally involved with what is going on politically, that I actually wake up thinking about Sarah Palin, John McCain, Bush, etc. And they aren't even nightmares, just stress and anxiety. That's when I know I've gone too far, and I just refuse to go to my favorite blogs or read the news for a few days. I crank up my music on my ipod instead of tuning in to the podcasts I usually listen to. I walk my dog longer than usual, which makes him happy, too. But most of all, I do yoga religiously because at least for an hour a day, I am relaxed, focused on things I can control, and those benefits always last longer than the hour of actual physical exercise.
ps. I love this blog.
Wow. Somehow you have entered my head and stolen my exact thoughts. There isn't a line in this blog that I disagree with. There are times when I become so emotionally involved with what is going on politically, that I actually wake up thinking about Sarah Palin, John McCain, Bush, etc. And they aren't even nightmares, just stress and anxiety. That's when I know I've gone too far, and I just refuse to go to my favorite blogs or read the news for a few days. I crank up my music on my ipod instead of tuning in to the podcasts I usually listen to. I walk my dog longer than usual, which makes him happy, too. But most of all, I do yoga religiously because at least for an hour a day, I am relaxed, focused on things I can control, and those benefits always last longer than the hour of actual physical exercise.
ps. I love this blog.
Films! Sex! Beer!
I am currently in the midst of the Toronto International Film Festival. For obsessive folks, there is nothing like a film festival to shift one's focus to what really matters: Nutters trying to create something out of nothing.
Lots of great little films that won't ever find a distributor. Then good ones that might be hits. Saw “The Other Man” the other day. Nice film about adultery, with Liam Neeson and Antonio Banderas (an often underrated actor, since his Almodovar days).
Rent a pile of DVDs, Elrod, and do a film marathon for a weekend. Nothing quite like it for recharging the spirit. Be sure to include craptastic films as well as classics for balance. It is good to laugh, and watch things blow up real good. As Epicurus said: Moderation in all things.
Sex. Often. (Forget Epicurus…he's dead!)
And finally . . . when there is nothing else left . . . there is Beer.
God's great gift to humanity.
Win or Lose in November . . . there is always Beer!
Films! Sex! Beer!
I am currently in the midst of the Toronto International Film Festival. For obsessive folks, there is nothing like a film festival to shift one's focus to what really matters: Nutters trying to create something out of nothing.
Lots of great little films that won't ever find a distributor. Then good ones that might be hits. Saw “The Other Man” the other day. Nice film about adultery, with Liam Neeson and Antonio Banderas (an often underrated actor, since his Almodovar days).
Rent a pile of DVDs, Elrod, and do a film marathon for a weekend. Nothing quite like it for recharging the spirit. Be sure to include craptastic films as well as classics for balance. It is good to laugh, and watch things blow up real good. As Epicurus said: Moderation in all things.
Sex. Often. (Forget Epicurus…he's dead!)
And finally . . . when there is nothing else left . . . there is Beer.
God's great gift to humanity.
Win or Lose in November . . . there is always Beer!
Elrod:
I don't read nearly as much of other bloggers' stuff as you apparently do and politics isn't the only topic about which I read. (Although my obsession with politics began when I was about four, back in 1957. My love of history and politics was so strong at age five that in the summer of 1959, my parents and I went for the first family vacation I remember, to Washington, DC. I remember thinking, as we sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter on that trip, that Ike was going to walk in at any moment and that I would get to talk with him.)
Frankly, I still rely more on the mainstream media than I do on what bloggers have to say. Most who blog come from such a biased vantage point, have little or no access to inside information, and write abominably. So, while I've been blogging for six years, I have little respect for most political blogging that gets done.
Presidential elections are a major buzz for me, though I do tire of the unimportant things that often take central importance in these “silly seasons.” As you say, that's nothing new. Few will recall, for example, that in 1960, one of the absorbing issues of one Kennedy-Nixon debate was what to do about Quemoy and Matsu. But even that's more substantial than arguing over “lipstick on a pig.”
Good post.
Mark Daniels
Elrod:
I don't read nearly as much of other bloggers' stuff as you apparently do and politics isn't the only topic about which I read. (Although my obsession with politics began when I was about four, back in 1957. My love of history and politics was so strong at age five that in the summer of 1959, my parents and I went for the first family vacation I remember, to Washington, DC. I remember thinking, as we sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter on that trip, that Ike was going to walk in at any moment and that I would get to talk with him.)
Frankly, I still rely more on the mainstream media than I do on what bloggers have to say. Most who blog come from such a biased vantage point, have little or no access to inside information, and write abominably. So, while I've been blogging for six years, I have little respect for most political blogging that gets done.
Presidential elections are a major buzz for me, though I do tire of the unimportant things that often take central importance in these “silly seasons.” As you say, that's nothing new. Few will recall, for example, that in 1960, one of the absorbing issues of one Kennedy-Nixon debate was what to do about Quemoy and Matsu. But even that's more substantial than arguing over “lipstick on a pig.”
Good post.
Mark Daniels
Elrod:
I don't read nearly as much of other bloggers' stuff as you apparently do and politics isn't the only topic about which I read. (Although my obsession with politics began when I was about four, back in 1957. My love of history and politics was so strong at age five that in the summer of 1959, my parents and I went for the first family vacation I remember, to Washington, DC. I remember thinking, as we sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter on that trip, that Ike was going to walk in at any moment and that I would get to talk with him.)
Frankly, I still rely more on the mainstream media than I do on what bloggers have to say. Most who blog come from such a biased vantage point, have little or no access to inside information, and write abominably. So, while I've been blogging for six years, I have little respect for most political blogging that gets done.
Presidential elections are a major buzz for me, though I do tire of the unimportant things that often take central importance in these “silly seasons.” As you say, that's nothing new. Few will recall, for example, that in 1960, one of the absorbing issues of one Kennedy-Nixon debate was what to do about Quemoy and Matsu. But even that's more substantial than arguing over “lipstick on a pig.”
Good post.
Mark Daniels
I have my motorcycle for day-to-day stress relief and a break from the constant blog reading, commenting, etc.
And of course the ACL Festival is only two weeks away!
Add to that a trip the weekend after ACL to Dallas to see a production of the Merchant of Venice and then the new, updated Tutankhamun exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art, and finally the week after that 6 days in Sonoma and Napa.
Then I will be back, relaxed, refreshed and ready for the home stretch to November 4. Trying to keep some balance in my life, at least.
I have my motorcycle for day-to-day stress relief and a break from the constant blog reading, commenting, etc.
And of course the ACL Festival is only two weeks away!
Add to that a trip the weekend after ACL to Dallas to see a production of the Merchant of Venice and then the new, updated Tutankhamun exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art, and finally the week after that 6 days in Sonoma and Napa.
Then I will be back, relaxed, refreshed and ready for the home stretch to November 4. Trying to keep some balance in my life, at least.
I have my motorcycle for day-to-day stress relief and a break from the constant blog reading, commenting, etc.
And of course the ACL Festival is only two weeks away!
Add to that a trip the weekend after ACL to Dallas to see a production of the Merchant of Venice and then the new, updated Tutankhamun exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art, and finally the week after that 6 days in Sonoma and Napa.
Then I will be back, relaxed, refreshed and ready for the home stretch to November 4. Trying to keep some balance in my life, at least.
Some days I make a list of what I need to do. At the end of the day, I have no idea why I wasted so many hours reading these blogs and making comments.. I have the opposite of a sense of accomplishment. The only justification I can come up with is that they are a form of mental exercise and self-expression of my commitment to my country and the issues I care about. Deep down, however, I have to admit that probably very few really read my comments and far fewer think differently after reading them.
Some days I make a list of what I need to do. At the end of the day, I have no idea why I wasted so many hours reading these blogs and making comments.. I have the opposite of a sense of accomplishment. The only justification I can come up with is that they are a form of mental exercise and self-expression of my commitment to my country and the issues I care about. Deep down, however, I have to admit that probably very few really read my comments and far fewer think differently after reading them.
Some days I make a list of what I need to do. At the end of the day, I have no idea why I wasted so many hours reading these blogs and making comments.. I have the opposite of a sense of accomplishment. The only justification I can come up with is that they are a form of mental exercise and self-expression of my commitment to my country and the issues I care about. Deep down, however, I have to admit that probably very few really read my comments and far fewer think differently after reading them.
Some days I make a list of what I need to do. At the end of the day, I have no idea why I wasted so many hours reading these blogs and making comments.. I have the opposite of a sense of accomplishment. The only justification I can come up with is that they are a form of mental exercise and self-expression of my commitment to my country and the issues I care about. Deep down, however, I have to admit that probably very few really read my comments and far fewer think differently after reading them.
BTW, my political obsession started during the 60's– even as a child I was vividly aware of the civil rights movement and the evils of segregation. I was always more sensitive to what I percieved as moral wrongs than anyone else in my more conservative family.
In college, I studied Political Science and History, and although I am not working in a related field, I remain fascinated by the ability of politicians and parties to create a remarkable gap between public perception and reality.
That ability– to spin and distract from critical issues– keeps us from facing them honestly, instead focussing our attention on the petty and inane. The longterm effect of this, together with a continous pattern of material consumption, may lead to our downfall as the world's sole superpower. Not in a few years, but in a few generations. The voters sense this, which is why both parties are campaigning on change.. I doubt we will be able to change in time.
BTW, my political obsession started during the 60's– even as a child I was vividly aware of the civil rights movement and the evils of segregation. I was always more sensitive to what I percieved as moral wrongs than anyone else in my more conservative family.
In college, I studied Political Science and History, and although I am not working in a related field, I remain fascinated by the ability of politicians and parties to create a remarkable gap between public perception and reality.
That ability– to spin and distract from critical issues– keeps us from facing them honestly, instead focussing our attention on the petty and inane. The longterm effect of this, together with a continous pattern of material consumption, may lead to our downfall as the world's sole superpower. Not in a few years, but in a few generations. The voters sense this, which is why both parties are campaigning on change.. I doubt we will be able to change in time.
BTW, my political obsession started during the 60's– even as a child I was vividly aware of the civil rights movement and the evils of segregation. I was always more sensitive to what I percieved as moral wrongs than anyone else in my more conservative family.
In college, I studied Political Science and History, and although I am not working in a related field, I remain fascinated by the ability of politicians and parties to create a remarkable gap between public perception and reality.
That ability– to spin and distract from critical issues– keeps us from facing them honestly, instead focussing our attention on the petty and inane. The longterm effect of this, together with a continous pattern of material consumption, may lead to our downfall as the world's sole superpower. Not in a few years, but in a few generations. The voters sense this, which is why both parties are campaigning on change.. I doubt we will be able to change in time.
BTW, my political obsession started during the 60's– even as a child I was vividly aware of the civil rights movement and the evils of segregation. I was always more sensitive to what I percieved as moral wrongs than anyone else in my more conservative family.
In college, I studied Political Science and History, and although I am not working in a related field, I remain fascinated by the ability of politicians and parties to create a remarkable gap between public perception and reality.
That ability– to spin and distract from critical issues– keeps us from facing them honestly, instead focussing our attention on the petty and inane. The longterm effect of this, together with a continous pattern of material consumption, may lead to our downfall as the world's sole superpower. Not in a few years, but in a few generations. The voters sense this, which is why both parties are campaigning on change.. I doubt we will be able to change in time.