Lovely essay on RSS: “Every interface is an argument about how you should feel.”
@jasonheppler.org I wish bsky supported this in their editor! I posted this from a service called micro.blog that I e set up to syndicate out to a few social media sites. Their editor uses markdown, and so links come through over here properly.
@jaheppler The idea of “phantom obligations” is interesting, but I have to say, I have used NetNewsWire for years and never felt any obligation to read everything that accumulates in it, any more than I feel obligated to buy every piece of produce at the farmers market in May (the latter is more tempting). In fact when I read this I thought, does that app actually show me an unread count? I never noticed. Am I just weird? Does everybody else actually feel this guilt, or only a small number of people who choose to write about it? Serious question: I don’t know.
@dwalbert I realized a few years ago that I am, in fact, the sort of person who feels pressure from unread counts. So: I turned off all notifications and badges showing unread counts, and uninstalled apps that didn’t allow hiding such counts. Problem solved.
@dwalbert I also don’t feel a guilt towards unread things (and also use NNW). I guess I think of feeds as books, in a way: there if or when I want to read them, but otherwise not an obligation (he says, as he side-eyes a pile of unread books…)
Perhaps I miss something that is “timely,” but I’m mostly after people’s writing and that can come anytime.
@jaheppler Maybe that’s it, and my prevailing metaphor is books. Lord knows they take up more space in my field of vision than whatever’s on this laptop screen!
@jaheppler @dwalbert I see rss items like I do things in my Someday/Maybe list (to borrow some GTD terminology). Not exactly tasks waiting to be done, but a menu of things I could engage with…if my time/attention/interest point me there.
@waitmanwbeorn.com Welcome! You can use the markdown bracket-and-parenthesis combo: help.micro.blog/t/markdow…