BLOGGERS BEWARE

I'VE TRIED TO IGNORE IT, BUT IT WON'T GO AWAY.

I've become a bogged down blogger, a computer crazed creature with no life, according to a Statistics Canada study released this week.

Here, in point form, are the findings from the study:

Heavy users of the Internet -- an hour a day or more -- do the following:

1. Spend less time with their spouse and children.

2. Do less paid work.

3. Spend more time at home, though do less cleaning.

4. Don't spend as much time participating in sports.

5. Volunteer less.

6. Spend 119 more minutes alone than people who don't use the Internet.

7. Heavy users spend an average of 2 1/2 hours online in their spare time.

8. While heavy users spend a lot less time in face to face contact, they were still interacting with people through email or online chatting (or, I would imagine, on blogging).

The study tracked Internet use in 2005 as part of a survey conducted every few years on how Canadians spend their time. Blogging, strangely, is not mentioned in the newspaper story at all.

So, since I got this new-fangled computer and started blogging, I have to admit that while I get an incredible amount of intellectual/emotional stimulation, the fact remains: I'm sitting on my ass in front of a computer almost every night.

Unfortunately, we have not yet evolved into the futuristic species depicted in some movies of having no physical bodies (which need exercise) into merely brains or, presumably much further on, beings without bodies at all.

I realize this may not be a popular topic for bloggers to contemplate. My experience is we love what we do and we treasure the interaction we can have with people all over the planet.

But what do you think? Are you becoming a blogger blob? Is the intellectual/emotional benefit you get coming at the expense of your physical well-being and your relationships with others?