feed reader

my feed reader is the bane of my online existence. i like the idea of a feed reader--utilizing a tool that can make my blog reading more efficient and, therefore, more pleasurable. but my feed reader hasn't felt like my friend--it's felt like a burden...for years.

for several years i used Bloglines, but it reached a point where for some reason some of my favorite feeds weren't getting updated. a couple of years ago i switched over to Google Reader and even though i use it in the most basic way (privately and just to read blogs--i don't use any other bells and whistles), it works just fine for my needs.

that said, i've still felt burdened by it. i have eclectic interests, so my tendency is to subscribe to way too many feeds. i can be an impulsive subscriber, but i'm also quick to ditch a feed if it turns out that it's not relevant to what i thought i wanted from it and/or it just doesn't resonate with me.

over the last year or so i've been gradually tweaking my feed reader, but how to choose what to keep? it had reached the point a couple of years ago where it was taking me 2-3 HOURS to get through my feed reader every time i opened it! i don't know about you, but i'd like to have a life!  :)  how had i manifested such a burdensome obligation for myself?! every time i opened the damn thing, there were a couple  THOUSAND unread posts!

part of the problem was that it took me years to create a few folders--to cull out a few feeds that i read solely for interest in the subject matter, but was never going to feel compelled to pop out of the feed reader over to the blog to leave a comment. that helped a little. then i made two decisions that might seem like common sense to others, but took me years to arrive at: 1) i decided that i only wanted to 'have' to open my feed reader once or twice a week, and 2) i wouldn't be considered a 'bad' online friend if i didn't leave a comment on every post. (i have some serious issues about politeness. certain lessons were drummed into me at a young age and i'm still working on shedding them.) those decisions helped...a lot.

but a curious thing was at work: the more time i had to spend online, the less time i wanted to spend there. once i'd removed myself from a workplace situation that made me incredibly thirsty for the pleasures of my online life, i didn't need to drink so deeply from the well because my real life had become more pleasurable. i found myself struggling with the next layer of my feed reader dilemma. i wasn't reading my friends' blogs as regularly as i used to because a) i wasn't opening my feed reader as often, and b) once i did open it, i still had too many damn feeds to read, or at least way more than i wanted to be reading in my new less-time-online life. i had begun avoiding my feed reader the way one does a bill collector.

fast forward to this morning when as i was making coffee, i thought: (sigh) i should try to get through my feed reader today. i was feeling guilty that i was slacking on reading my friends' blogs, but i still felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of unread posts in my reader. and then it hit me: OH! i could create a "friends" folder and then i wouldn't feel so overwhelmed just reading their blogs! and there you have it: the obvious solution that only took me SEVEN YEARS to figure out.  :)

i'd love to hear how you handle your blog-reading activities. if you feel like sharing in a comment, please do.

Comments

[bella]

:) I try to keep 20-25 blogs in my reader. That's it! No folders, no subfolders... nada. The less overwhelm, the better.

[Stephanie]

Even though I'd love to comment more on the blogs I read, I learned long ago that I don't have the time to do that. So. That helps me a lot.

And I use folders in Google Reader too. That way when I just have a minute, I open up my MVP folder and read those. And if I'm interested in eye candy, I open up my photography folder. And when the numbers get too high for a particular blogger, then I just click "mark all as read." I figure I can't read it all :)

[Lori-Lyn]

I can't believe I never thought of making a friends folder. I'm going to go do that right now!

[Joy]

You'd think I'd know a lot more about feed readers, etc than I really do; but I keep it very basic and don't really follow them in regard to my personal blog. I have a blogroll that I try to follow as much as I can...and hope to visit them on a pretty regular basis. I also have some blog sites saved in another folder that I check with from time to time; but haven't included them on my blogroll. I swear....I'm such a relic.

[lindsey]

i agree with joy. i feel like a relic! i have a favorites on my sidebar as well as a favorites folder from the internet. here's to old school!!!

xo

[Sam]

I definitely used to use my own sidebar links and others...but I do love my feed reader. I totally need to create a friends folder...because there are plenty of blogs I love and rarely, if ever, comment on...but the people that are my FRIENDS, I do feel bad if I end up lurking and not commenting. But, I don't feel burdened by my feed reader. Every once in awhile I'll mark stuff as "mark all as read" but I try to make sure I've read what I really want to read...