Thursday, February 14, 2008

What's Wrong With Addiction, Anyway?

Half a pound. Up. That's what a week of denying myself leads to - a weight gain of half a pound. Imagine how much I would have gained if I hadn't been on a diet. It is becoming clear to me that I have a choice for the rest of my life - look good, or eat like a normal human being. I can't decide.

It was one of those days (those many, many days) when only the lobotomizing effect of having been around small children for almost 2 decades prevented me from going absolutely crazy. It was close, though. Forget waterboarding - stick some prisoner in a cell with Rachel and Brian bickering non-stop for 8 hours, and he'll tell you anything you want. I'm betting that would be a violation of the Geneva Conventions, though. Torture, plain and simple.

It was a relief, I must admit, to abandon my family this evening in order to attend Knit Night, where I can converse with adults about topics other than who started it and who is supposed to do what chores. And I was proud of myself for getting out and mingling with real people, rather than opting to stay home, on the computer, "chatting" with my imaginary friends. The result? I came home with 2 new blog addresses to add to my reader. Oh, dear.

But it seems that on the spectrum of blog addiction, I'm somewhere in the middle - not yet completely lost in the world of virtual friends, but definitely heading for the danger zone. Those of you who commented on yesterday's post that you peruse fewer than 20 blogs, just wait. You'll get sucked in too.

What fascinated me was the range of rationalizations we use to justify our Internet habits. "I read a lot of blogs, but I don't comment much" - is that the equivalent of not inhaling, Sue? I'm just wondering. And Kelli claims that she reads them for the recipes. Tell me, is that like reading Playboy for the articles?

Some people, such as Mary Alice, feel that organization is the answer to the problem of blogging taking up too much time. Still others opine that, while blogging may be a bad habit, it is only replacing other bad habits, such as TV watching and online shopping. And then there are the few, the proud, who make no excuses whatsoever (or else they are just so far gone they don't even realize what's happening to them).

Questions of blog etiquette also arose. Is it impolite to visit a blog without leaving a comment, as mrs. g. suggested? Perhaps that would be the virtual equivalent of peeping in someone's windows.... And if you don't have a reader or blogroll, but just sort of "link around," does that make you a blog slut, as Manic Mommy hypothesized?

Blog slut - I love that.

So I'll leave you to ponder all these musings on the nature of our virtual connectedness, while I prepare to host a Valentine's Day party tomorrow. Volunteering to host get-togethers of this nature is the only way I can get myself to clean up my house. Public shaming is a powerful motivator.

24 comments:

  1. "the lobotomizing effect of having been around small children for almost 2 decades"! ROFLMBO!!! I LOVE it!

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  2. Blog slut! What a great term. Someone should make a button for that. I'll admit to being one.

    As far as weight loss goes, I'm in the same boat. Some days I feel like it's worth it to put lots of effort in and be really careful, others I feel like I'd rather just have the damn cake 'cause life is short and do I really want to spend it obsessing about calories and fat? Then I get a look at my arse in the mirror... In my next life, I think I'd like to be a man. No one cares if they're fat. Or old.

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  3. That weight gain thing is so discouraging! I feel like if I watch what I eat and exercise daily then I don't gain weight. I haven't really figured out what it would take (reasonably) to lose weight.

    You sure hit a nerve with yesterday's post! I loved all the comments and today's analysis.

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  4. I must clarify that I don't think it's impolite for others not to comment. I was explaining my childhood inspired, pathological need to comment every single day on every single blog. I'm currently in slow recovery and do not want anybody using me as a role model.

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  5. Don't invite any bloggers to that Valentine's Day party... you are sure to end up with more addresses for your reader.

    Have any of your sweet children asked you to be their valentine?

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  6. I love the theoretical questions about blog etiquette. So much so that I wrote a real, live, scholarly article about it a couple years ago: "'Comment Me Back': Expectations of Intimacy in the Culture of Blog" (International Journal of Applied Philosophy 21 [Spring 2007]). In case anyone wants to look it up, haha.

    Actually, *I* need to go look it up, and re-read it. I wrote it before I started blogging! Let's see what I think now, having immersed my theory in the real -- ok, virtual -- world. (To be precise, the blogosphere is not the virtual world; that term refers to a self-contained reality, such as those found in rpg's like Second Life...ACK! My academese is showing! Sorry!)

    My "expert" opinion? It's perfectly legitimate to visit without commenting. If it weren't so, blog sites would require sign-in's to read.

    Not that anyone asked, of course...

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  7. You are so right - No 2 had drama queen melt down in the car yesterday...in the end I was laughing hysterically - she, stunned said "How can you laugh?"

    I had to....otherwise I'd cry!

    As I've said before - blogging is cheaper than therapy!

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  8. Happy Valentine's Day from one blog addict to another.

    Thanks for making me chuckle again!

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  9. I agree--part of why I never fear for my children being abducted is that they are so damn annoying that they'd be returned to me within hours. Especially if some idiot grabbed more than one of them! (Seriously, call the Pentagon, though--this isn't in violation of the Geneva Convention and I think it would be pretty effective)
    Happy V day and enjoy your par-tay;)

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  10. I'm so glad I'm not alone in this bloggy addiction of mine. Hubs is getting worried about me. But hey - could be worse. At least I'm not a crack ho.

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  11. My children could also work for the CIA. They're an untapped resource.

    Glad you got out of the house.

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  12. I will take credit for blog slut as an original idea, as it was the next logical thought after admitting to "linking around."

    *However* I just remembered that Bossy coined BlogWhore first - and made the t-shirt. Damnit, what were we saying about online shopping?

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  13. I remember the days of homeschooling with both horror and nostalgia. The whodunnits are much less now and life is better that way.

    All this talk of blog hopping and addiction makes me want to rethink my blogging stance. Perhaps I should up the numbers I'm currently reading.

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  14. "Blog Slut"...that should be on a shirt.

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  15. Heh heh, Blog Slut. Don't forget your Blogging Widow you get to spend VDay with! And that weight thing, yech. Throw the scale out, and go for feeling good is my take on it.

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  16. I just read that surfing the net is a great tool to use to ward off thoughts of food/night binges.

    Funny how weight watchers new slogan is don't diet, but no matter how they phrase it, it sure feels like you're on one.

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  17. If I weren't so darn Matronly, I'd take on the moniker blog slut myself, but those two just don't work well together. Must check out the organizational angle on this. Although I LOVE comments, I (only this once, promise) disagree with the fabulous Mrs. G. I routinely visit and don't write. But the blog owner has one more hit in her google analytics (as if anyone cares or tracks how many readers . . . ).

    Sorry about the weight. I am SURE you're heard this, but you have had your thyroid checked? And if you're on thyroid meds already for hypothyroidism, you are getting T3 tested?

    In sum, I am the thyroid queen so do send me an email at mpetrie AT gmail if you want to chat. . .

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  18. Whoops - my comment is now clarified by Mrs. G's clarification. We both think it's all right to visit in silence.

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  19. I think I know 5 blog sluts. :)

    That so should be a blog name. You nailed it - children - the age old form of torture!

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  20. Lord knows I don't want to be impolite so I thought I should leave a comment. Love your blog!

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  21. Too funny!

    I don't inhale my computer so I think I'm ok. On slow connection days, I run flights of stairs to neutralize the effect on my metabolism of staring at a computer screen.

    Happy Valentine's Day

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  22. My husband once admitted that he invited someone to dinner so that I would clean the house. Ouch. The next time he invited someone over, I just met him at the door and said, "We're taking them out to dinner."

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  23. I'm relieved to see Mrs. G.'s disclaimer! Because that kind of etiquette rule, if universally implied, would make blogging completely impracticable. What if I read a post and then can't think of something to say? It's too big a risk - better just to not read at all.

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  24. BlogWhore. BlogSlut. Love them both. Guilty of both. But I like commenting, although I think others are self-conscious about it all. Maybe. Really, what do I know?

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