i'm a third of a way through my most recent copy of my fave magazine, and came across an article by Jessica Wapner ("The Healthy Type", Scientific American June 2008) about the therapeutic effects of blogging.
Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University, is quoted explaining that "humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which act as a 'placebo for getting satisfied.'" The point being that blogging about stressful experiences may work similarly.
In other words, life can suck, or if it doesn't, at least the world we're stuck living in leaves much to be desired. Complaining about this makes you feel a bit better. As the culture of a thin privileged section of the world's population begins to be based more and more on computers, things like blogs begin to play the same role.
According to Wapner's article, blogging can even make you sleep better. Plus, it "might trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art."
Well there you go.
Blogging: the opiate of the cyber-petit bourgeoisie.
(If i have to have an opiate, i can think of worse.)
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