Tag Archives: RSS

Am I reading too much?

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the time I spend reading things on the Internet. It’s a bit ironic to be writing this in a blog, but I’m wrestling with the “dispersion” of my thoughts as I read so many short articles. Obtaining information via blogs and Internet articles is not the same as getting it from books (though it does bear a certain resemblance to newspaper reading).

Years ago, my watch was stolen during a home invasion. I used that as a time to try and lessen my time addiction; I waited more than a year before I bought another watch. Week before last, my laptop was stolen (OK, Herald of Truth’s laptop). One thing I lost were all of my RSS subscriptions, all the feeds to articles, blogs, etc. that I read regularly. I had over 200 subscriptions.

I’m going to wait a while before replacing them. I’ll try and still read some blogs, and I invite you to feel free to point out to me good things that I might be missing. But for a time, I’m going to slow down my Internet reading (fully recognizing the irony of doing so while continuing to write).

This may be through the end of the year. It may be through the end of tomorrow. We’ll see.

But I want to get back to the deeper question: does reading widely on the Internet keep us from focusing on deeper thoughts? Or does it help us to be well rounded? I’d very much appreciate your input.

Feed me, see more

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I’ve become a big fan of reading blogs via RSS feeds. Some people use Google Reader or something similar to accomplish this. I am currently using Vienna, an open source program, although I also own Newsfire. And I know that my browser will let me read RSS feeds, as will my mail program. There are lots of options available.

RSS is often expanded as “Really Simple Syndication,” although I’m not sure that was the original meaning. It provides a “feed” of frequently updated materials, like blogs or news websites. I currently follow over 200 feeds; I wouldn’t be able to begin to look at all of that material on their original websites.

Some of the blogs I follow don’t provide a full feed. I don’t mind too much those that give excerpts, but I really don’t care for those that give you nothing but a title. If you’re going to get me to read your blog based merely on a title, it had better be a really good title. Those blogs that come through blank rarely get a read from me. (I’m sure their authors are crushed)

I think the use of feeds will grow, both in the number of sites providing feeds and the number of people reading via feeds. If you haven’t tried it, I would suggest you give it a whirl. To subscribe to the feeds from this site, you can click on one of the choices at the top right or click on the link that says “RSS feed” at the end of each individual post. Some browsers also let you click on an RSS symbol in the address bar.

See you in the feed!