Much Like Any Other Hobby  

The Times reports on a Swinburne University study that suggests you can "blog away the blues". Given that plenty of studies show that heavy computer users are more likely to get depressed than the rest of the population, this may seem a bit surprising, but I suspect its the "hobby effect" - keeping busy and engaged is a mood lifter (whereas being a passive consumer is a downer).

According to a new study by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne who were looking into the psychological benefits of blogging, bloggers tend to feel a greater sense of connectedness to a particular community, and feel that they have a larger social support system behind them compared with those who do not blog. Using social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, the researchers found, also "lifted the mood of all participants (of the study) in some way."

Viewed in this light, blogging could be prescribed as a potentially cheaper (and drugs-free) way to help people overcome a feeling of isolation.

That bloggers derive an elevated sense of self-worth comes as little surprise to this blogger. Blogging has been dismissed as a narcissistic pursuit, the equivalent of giving a megaphone to the most opinionated person in the room. But it can also be a tremendously beneficial pursuit -- for both the blogger and his or her readers. Most of the time, anyhow.