Is this just mental masturbation?

Thinking
Originally uploaded by Sapporo58.

I am at the moment in Bergen in Norway attending the Board Meeting of ESIB - The National Unions of Students in Europe. Cool people and interesting issues. I decided to step out from the plenary because they are now selecting new people to volunteer for the organisation.

I love words, which may be yesterday's news for the people who know me. For me it has always been a brilliant feeling when I learn a new word.

During an interview today an Austrian friend of mine Angelika used an absolutely fab phrase: mental masturbation. She used it when talking about the problems when trying to explain complex and abstract higher education policies in a manner that they would somehow touch the reality of the people working on the local level. She said that this needs to be done so that the work in ESIB is not only mental masturbation for her.

I like the word but I like the thinking behind it even more. It reminded me of writing this blog. What is the reason for doing this? Who benefits from this? Or is it only...yes...mental masturbation for myself? Have to ponder that.