IN MY SHOES: Blogging Can Kill You
Blogging – or maybe blogging, plus cigar smoking, drinking and eating high-fat foods – may have contributed to the heart attack Om Malik, 41, suffered on December 28, 2007. Malik wrote this post on his tech blog GigaOm: “I was able to walk into the hospital for treatment that night and have been recovering here ever since. With the support of my family and my team, I am on the road to a full recovery. I am going to be O.K.”
An article in The New York Times explores “what happens when a blogger becomes a name brand”:
“The trouble with a personal brand is, you’re yoked to a machine,” said Paul Kedrosky, a friend of Mr. Malik’s who runs the Infectious Greed blog. “You feel huge pressure to not just do a lot, but to do a lot with your name on it. You have pressure to not just be the C.E.O., but at the same time to write, and to do it all on a shoestring. Put it all together, and it’s a recipe for stress through the roof.”
On the upside: Communities of like-minded people form around blogs and the day after Malik’s post about his heart attack, more than 800 people - amongst them, journalists, VCs and other tech bloggers - offered sympathy and wished him a speedy recovery.
Editorial Note: Although The Stiletto Blog does not yet have the traffic or the media attention that GigaOm enjoys, once subscribers started signing up The Stiletto felt a responsibility to post on a regular schedule - despite a demanding day job that requires a fair amount of business travel. The Stiletto’s pal at The Last Angry Man recently asked, “Don’t you sleep?” The Stiletto’s answer, “Yes, just not every day.” But the thoughtful comments The Stiletto gets from her readers – even those who disagree – makes it all worthwhile.
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