RSS Overload is a Myth
There's no such thing as too much RSS, writes Steven M. Cohen, who follows over 400 feeds and writes about what he discovers on his blog Library Stuff:
I still feel that information overload is a myth, in that it doesn't truly exist. Here's my theory. Reading content depends on the time factor. Some people have 10 minutes a day, some have 3 hours. Some decide that they want to take work home, others are set against not doing that. It all depends on the life that you are lead, not the amount of content in your aggregator. For example, I have a lot of time in the evening to read from my aggregator. I read 400+ feeds and it usually takes me about 2 hours to get through it all. I then spend 1 and a half hours writing to my blog (if I don't have other work to do - articles, getting ready for workshops, etc). I have the time so I can subscribe to 400+ feeds. If I didn't have the time, I wouldn't. It's that easy. The reason why I consider information overload a myth is because the person has the power to change the amount of content to read. No one is forcing you to read anything. It's a choice. No one is forcing me to subscribe to 400+ feeds. It's a choice. If you feel overwhelmed with information, then purge. You will find that your "information anxiety" decreases dramatically. If you have 15 minutes to read content, subscribe to 15 minutes worth of reading and if you find that you have more time, subscribe to more. ...
And as far as aggregators getting smarter, I haven't seen one work as well as the human brain. I'm willing to test out any aggregator that purports to know what is important to me based on my "readng habits", but they won't beat my own brain. At least, not yet.
