A public service announcement from The Skwib
This time of year can be troubling for bloggers; the days get shorter, the holiday season has its own particular stresses, and for those running weblogs, there are the dangers of SAD.
Statistical Affective Disorder (SAD) is caused by an abrupt and inexplicable drop in the visitor statistics to your blog. Early symptoms include:
- sudden weeping
- shout at the ceiling: “why, why, gods of blog … why?”
- desperate attempts/plans/Fred Flintstone-like schemes to boost readership including:
- massive increase in Tweets
- hyper-active friending on Facebook
- increased meme generation.
As the disorder progresses, you may find yourself:
- bitter
- angry
- drunk.
And in the final stages, SAD can even lead to:
- apathy
- self-loathing
- watching TV and reading books.
If you have any of these symptoms you may have SAD, and should seek qualified psychiatric help at the first opportunity. Alternatively, you could just turn off your damned computer.