Does Blogging Give You a Stiff Neck?

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Repetitive strain injuries are perhaps common for folks whose work involves staying in front of a computer screen for extended periods of time, among other health concerns. My most recent injury would be a stiff neck. Perhaps if you blog (or design, or write code) for a living, you would know what I mean.

The other day, I woke up feeling heavy and disoriented. And I couldn’t move my head much. I knew it was one of those bad days because I don’t remember getting into bed the previous night. That usually happens when I fall asleep too tired. What’s worse was that I had a stiff neck. And it was probably work related!

So why should I relate getting a stiff neck with blogging? Well, people who spend all day or all night doing work on blogs–which may include writing, managing, or doing back-end fixes–are likely to be prone to this. Here are some scenarios:

  1. I fall asleep on my keyboard. This usually results in me (or my keyboard) spewing out indecipherable garbage. It’s even worse if I was in the middle of an IM conversation or if it’s an email and the send button gets pressed as my head hits the keyboard.
  2. I may not hit my head on the keyboard or desk, but I could just doze off, with my head unsupported.
  3. I’m too tired to get into my usual comfortable sleeping position after a long night’s work, so I just plop into bed and fall asleep.
  4. I’m too preoccupied and focused with what I’m currently working on that I’m no longer minding my posture.
  5. Or maybe I’m taking photos to blog about, and the sheer weight of my dSLR + Speedlite + superzoom lens hanging from the neck strap is killing my neck and back.

In all these cases, it’s a matter of improper posture or positioning. I guess this is one disadvantage when you work just next door to your bedroom. The risk could even be higher during those times you decide to bring your laptop to bed to do some late readings, or maybe to save up on airconditioning costs.

I could try some of Ryan’s tips for bloggers. But the best solution here would probably be better time management. That’s one thing I really have to work on.

Any other blogging-related injuries you’ve experienced?

My favorite recent design blog: emersian

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I’ve always been an admirer of great design – I almost skipped going for my MBA two years ago and thought of enrolling instead in the University of Minnesota School of Design. But I didn’t, and I’m probably better off because of it – but I’ll always wonder.

Paul Scrivens, of 9rules fame, has been blogging quietly over at a new design blog called Emersian, where he’s been profiling some of the more interesting blog & web designs out there today.

Some recent posts:

He’s also been providing some limited commentary with posts like Learning CSS for Beginners and Breaking the Design Rules.

What I like about Emersian is that Scrivs is just keeping it simple – highlighting great designs without commentary or analysis – and providing some occasional commentary and thoughts…

What’s your blog workspace?

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I wrote last weekend about my problogging setup – which is essentially my blog workspace.

If you missed the article, it looks like this:

Today, however, I’m in St. Cloud, MN, about 80 miles from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St. Paul where I live and work – blogging with a large cup of hot java from Caribou Coffee and living off of their free wi-fi. My blog workspace today looks like:

Caribou 041208

I’m always interested in where bloggers blog from and how they setup their workspace – whether it’s a home office or a local coffee shop or drinking establishment.

Darren Rowse, over at Problogger.net, even released a video showing his “Problogger HQ”.

Not long ago, Darren profiled several sets of Blog Workspace photos:

So what’s your blog workspace look like?

Post your links to photos and/or descriptions here and I’ll feature in an upcoming post.

You can only talk about the Restaurant in the Restaurant

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The latest Saturday Afternoon Chatter on Techmeme is about where conversations take place after we post on our blogs. The former editor of the Blog Herald Tony Hung thinks aggregation services have crossed the line. I tend to disagree. It’s like Restaurants having policies that you are only allowed to talk about the restaurant in the restaurant using approved feedback forms.

I have nothing else to say. Just thought I’d add this little bit of snobbery.