I just spent a few hours and now my Google Reader lists zero unread posts instead of 1000+. I will not claim I read all closely; it was an exercise in skimming, and in some, such as TechCrunch, blantant marking all as read.
I wonder why I feel so much lighter now that there are no longer 1000+ posts waiting for me to read them. After all, it is MY blog roll. No one is forcing me to read them. And if the weight of the unread ones is pulling me down, why don’t I delete them?
I probably do need to prune my blog roll, and occasionally I do lop a few off that no longer speak to me. However, I find I am still adding. Most of what I add are not edublogs. My blog roll now better reflects some of my hobbies and interests outside of education and technology. I’m also reading more news sites via RSS now that I let my newspaper subscription lapse.
The same is true of my podcast subscriptions. I’m spending less time listening to educational ones, and more time on my hobbies, news, science, and audio books.
Part of me really misses being as in-the-know as I used to be when I read lots of edublogs. I loved being part of the discussions. I didn’t always have anything to add to it, but it let me see ideas evolve over time in the community. It let me be an early adopter of new technologies and that has served me well, making me comfortable with them before I need to be using them on the job, and letting me “see” where things were going.
It also saved me a lots of headache. For example, reading someone’s post about what did and didn’t go well with their class Voicethread project allowed me to avoid the pitfalls and build on the strengths. It gave me answers to my questions and to ones I hadn’t yet anticipated.
Another part I miss is the substance. Facebook has been great for catching up with distant friends. Twitter is amazingly good at just-in-time answers. But neither has the depth of extended thinking. Neither makes me think in the ways a good blog post does. Neither informs my practice nor challenges me out of complacency.
I do notice that many prolific bloggers are blogging less. I don’t think that means the blog will die any time soon. I hope it means that posts will be more thoughtful. I’d much rather read one good post a month from someone than having my feed reader filled up with posts that are nothing more than lists of the sites they added to Delicious.
I’m seeing I do value edublogs. I appreciate what they add to my life and my work. I guess what I really need to learn is to not let the unread ones get me down.
How has your blog roll or blog reading habits changed in the past year?
Wow…that is a bit strange…it could have been me writing that post (though I may not have been so eloquent). I just did a cull on my Reader…and yours was the first post on my newly zeroed subscription list. I’ve just made a commitment to getting back to my lurking ways, and while there is still plenty of good stuff around, things do feel a little different around the blogosphere.
Thanks for posting…you summed up my thoughts scarily well!
Wow! That IS eerie! Mike, Thanks for your comments and your concord.
And THANKS for keeping me in your list after the deep culling 😀
Susan…your post seems to have struck a chord with many of us – as we all are dealing with way too much information to digest.
The problem is that the blog posts, audiobooks, web videos, articles, online talks etc all seem essential.
My strategy is to move what I want to follow-up on from Google Reader to Google Tasks…and then (theoretically) chip away at it as I go…
Just the other day I blogged on the “un-processed” content (potential material for blogs) that is piling up:
http://ccblog.typepad.com/weblog/2009/01/a-building-list-of-content-for-blogging-my-google-tasks-list.html
Josh
I know exactly how you feel. I struggle quite a bit when my reader gets a little overloaded. I’ve also learned to just skim and click “Mark as Read” more often to make myself feel better-just as you have. In fact, I’m doing that right now. I did blog about this topic a month or so ago if you’re interested – http://imcguy.blogspot.com/2008/12/finding-blogging-balance.html
I’m with you Susan! I used to do a much better job reading blogs a few years ago than I do now. I think part of it is because there are so many more people blogging, or I’m just discovering more and more that I want to keep track of, which of course, ends up in me feeling farther and farther behind.
I have to force myself to remember that the feeling of falling behind is just in my own head. I’m right where I need to be when I need to be there. And the information I need tomorrow will be found when I need it, tomorrow.
I guess what’s changed for me is that I’m constantly looking for new ways to reorganize my reader so that I’m really reading whats immediately relevant when I have the time – instead of trying to sift through too much in the same amount of time. Which, in the end, means that I tend to read less, but hopefully I’m reading what’s more relevant to me than simply “everything” I can find.
I’ve started moving my feeds more in the direction of where I’m heading – my 3rd attempt at retirement, and cutting down on the education blogs as I have three things that I want to get done here before I leave in June, and I just don’t want to be distracted by all the new cool stuff that is going on. I’m going to leave that for my replacement so that s/he can plow through all the information about the great things happening around the world with technology and education.
I read this post at the beginning of my own feed read rudction campaign. As yu can tell, I’m only up to A and serious cutting has yet to begin.
Maybe if I get it down below 500 that would be good. or maybe just 750.
Darn bloggers, keep writing about stuff I want to comment on.
So many blogs. So little time.
Interesting post…have been experimenting with a collective blog here at the University of Sheffield (http://www.shef.ac.uk/goodpractice)about learning and teaching and people’s experiences with it (as part of creating a community etc.) but finding that people are limiting and streamling what they are willing to read…and more importantly write. Daily blog posts were definitely the answer for us 1 year ago…but now posting a couple times a week with support and diversifying into a whole other series of Web 2.0 apps is much more important (see the range http://www.shef.ac.uk/teachingcommons). Wasn’t sure if this had something to do with the project but am finding Flickr and a sort of micro-documentary vlogging/YouTube channel much more exciting at the mo. Thanks for the post.