I’m a big fan of ReadWriteWeb, but this article about the stress of news blogging is too far over the top for me:
News blogging is probably one of the most stressful occupations you can have. [my emphasis] First, you have to watch the crazy-fast moving, non-stop tech world all the time. News bloggers have thousands of feeds in their RSS readers. Staying on top of all that is not easy. In addition, you have to write well. It is not just the story, its how you present it that makes a difference. Creativity needs to be present whether you are sick or its rainy or you are simply not in the mood. Every day you need to watch the world and re-invent yourself.
I’m digging deep back into the psychology classes I took as a college student, but if I remember this right, stress occurs when we feel we are not in control of our own life because of outside forces (real or imagined).
Sure, news blogging can be a high-pressure job - whether that is stressful or not depends on the individual’s coping mechanisms (which, to a degree, can be learned).
But can we get some perspective here? Those of us who can write for a living are privileged. There are a million jobs out there that are far more stressful by design: doctors, firefighters, soldiers, ambulance drivers, etc. etc. etc.
Sure, there is pressure involved, but how you handle that pressure and if you want to stay in that high pressure environment is up to you.
Unless, of course, you work for these guys:
We talked about this on last L33t Tech. My 2 cents (again): It’s not the most stressful job ever; if it were, my ass wouldn’t be doing it.
No job where you don’t have to leave your living-room couch to do it is ‘the most stressful job in the world.’ Sorry. It just isn’t.
It’s reading. And writing. Rinsing and repeating.
It can get laborious. It can be taxing. It can even cause some burn-out. But stressful, it ain’t.