If my cats didn’t keep the blinds on my computer desk window in total disarray, I might never see the morning, or the day and night. I spend too much time here, I know, and those days – like yesterday – that I limit my time on the computer seem to just bog me down with too many new blog posts, YouTube videos, and miscellaneous e-mails to sort through and try to view.
“Oh! The sun is up!”
I hope people read my posts, yet I feel over-burdened with theirs when they add more than one a day. Several post one photo or illustration per posting several times a day. To view, review, “like” (if I do!), close, then delete a post I’ve seen is five keystrokes. If someone posts 15 individual photos or poems (and some do!) a day, that’s 75 keystrokes, where five keystrokes would do if they posted everything in one post.
The impact of the multiple postings is to minimize the amount of time I have available to enjoy the poster’s work and a severe reduction in the amount of time I have available to update my post once a day.
I confess, there are days I am over-whelmed to the point I go through the 300 or so e-mail notifications waiting for me and delete as many as I possibly can, starting with those that are from multiple posters.
I don’t feel good about it, but it seems to be the only way to get through the day without spending the whole day in front of a computer screen, missing little things. Like the sun coming up.
I tried the Reader approach today, and that seems like a winner. It’s a lot faster than opening each one from an e-mail notification, and, if it’s just a photo or short blog, I find a lot can be view in toto and “liked” in the Reader without having to open the whole thing. Much faster!
It is hard to keep up sometimes. I have days when I delete most of the mail I have, and I forgive myself for doing so. I’m human.
It does feel ungracious, doesn’t it? I know each one is someone’s pride and joy, something they put heart into.
I totally understand about to many posts in one day and I have been guilty of posting more than one in a day.
I have had to unfollow a few folks who post six to ten a day as I cannot keep up with them and like you am overwhelmed.
Have a good Monday and how very cool your boys are showing you the sunrise.
Yours aren’t over-whelming like some are, so don’t worry about posting more than once a day sometimes. Your blogs fall into a few categories: Ali news and photos (need I say why I am interested in your fuzzy black beauty?), updates on your family (how you and Tim are doing, medically, is a concern…!), your flower photo blogs (which I enjoy a lot because you have a great talent for flower portraiture!), and scenes around your area. Occasionally you get on a rant, but I’m about the same age as you. Your rants are my rants!
I, too, get overwhelmed by too many posts. I like to read them carefully and respond as possible. I haven’t written a lot lately due to extra duty to a family member. I hope I can pull it together soon.
I just did the unimaginable: I declared liberation from Facebook. This blog goes there automatically, but I will no longer go there except in response to the blog. As for e-mail notifications, I will be brutally selective on what I read because I am allowing myself 30 minutes a day (for a start, to see how it works out) to go through the posts. I think it was Tom von Kapherr or Marc Andre who suggested following blogs on the WordPress reader instead of by e-mail notification. I’m going to try that and see how it works out..
That sounds great. In fact, you may have inspired me as I have been thinking of that for awhile. In anyhoo, congratulations. I have yet to even look at Twitter. Too much of that stuff and it doesn’t give me time to do anything else.
Twitter is like writing headlines. I have an account but can’t remember the last time I stopped by.
and pinterist
I have that, though it’s like Twitter: I rarely think to look at it!
It’s just too busy for me. Makes me quite dizzy.
My reader is not entirely reliable about the blogs I follow. But most blogs show up there.
I still haven’t tried this as an exclusive way to approach blogs. I think today I will ease into it.
‘Nuff said. It is getting harder and harder to get around to everyone and give equal time. No need to reply.
You post infrequently enough that you get full attention! Of course, what you post about is very interesting.
I have the answer… give your cats the task of reviewing all the blog posts, email, etc. and only passing on to you the most relevant ones. Of course you will end up reading a lot of posts and comments about cats, mice and birds… but that’s not all bad!
I hear you… and I don’t even attempt to read everything… as somebody else said all you can do is the best you can do! If it is stressing you out and no longer enjoyable it is not worth it!
Exactly! This is something I do because it can be fun. When it turns into something like an obligation, then it becomes a de facto, unpaid job.
Having spent nearly 2-1/2 years there when I was stationed in the US Army, I came to love your country a lot, and you write about things that relate to that!
I read most but not all of the blogs I follow, sometimes a blog brings up a theme I am just not that into – so I give it a pass.
I find the political ones the easiest ones to not read.
And still you read mine …
Some blogs are just more interesting to me, and yours fits that bill.
Thank you *blushes*. It is just, sometimes it is political, sometimes it is just about some little province-town culture-event, sometimes it is just about something I heard and sometimes it is even less than that (for exampe all those German Icon-articles).
hello Doug! So you too are having mixed feelings about this blogging stuff we are in to, I limit my blogging to a post a day, first it is reasonable, second every post means a lot of work until it is ready to publish, I try to schedule one or two in advance and I keep a dozen as drafts until I write some words which is normally the last thing I do. There’s no need to tell how hard it is sometimes to do it! I can see that you keep a lot of interaction with your folowers – that is great but you know that is also very demanding. If I may give you an advice – never miss a sunrise or a sunset or even a walk around your house looking at little things for a comment or some likes – focus on your posts if you move out of your computer they be even better next time! Have a great week, my friend!
Great advice José! What I like about your posts is I can play the music while I go through the others. It may not be the ideal way to listen to good music, but it assures I experience the artists you feature, many of whom I wouldn’t know about if I didn’t follow your blog! I try to make my blogs a short as I can, with an emphasis on the kitty photos since Andy and Dougy are, afterall, my muses for most of my posts.
Speaking of my muses, Andy relaxed his guard early today, and has had his medicine. With cats, not being predictable helps when you need to catch them. He protested a little, but mostly he was a good boy.
I only get emails when someone starts following or likes one of my posts. Try not to get emails every time one of the blogs you follow posts – that is a considerable amount of emails, you can set that using the list of all the people you follow and selecting the option of not getting any email. Go to the WP reader section and create lists by topic or maybe the best option a single list of the blogs you want to keep in touch. Then through the reader you can check the blogs in the list you created and if you wish you can go to the blog and read/listen or watch whatever is in the post! If you do this you’ll get a lot more time for your posting!
More good advice! I hate to cut anyone off, but I also need to restore time for activities other than blogging and following blogs. I think an hour a day is the most I want to spend with it, including updating my own blog. That may not be realistic, and I have considered changing to a less frequent schedule for my blog. (Some days, I don’t have great ideas for a blog anyway.)
Just out of curiosity, why not just turn off the email notifications from blogs that are “too much” Then you can choose to read them or not in the reader. The only blogs I get emails from are the ones that post once a week or once a month and don’t want to miss them.
I hate to cut people off, but things have gotten too much to handle. I believe I’ll do this, Tom.
I think it’s the only way to stay sane. I follow you in my reader. I may miss the odd post, but when I see your post, I just scroll down and check for others. But i’m doing it at my pace. I hate feeling rushed.
Me, too. Volume equals reduced time per view, and that is a disservice to most blogs I follow. Maybe I should switch to the reader. I have scrolled through it in past to find blogs I vaguely recalled but had a new reason to revisit, but I’ve also found new ones to follow.
Good idea, Use the reader almost exclusively. I like using the tags for new blogs. as well.
I’m going to try to do this. I’ve cut back on Facebook quite a bit because I find the incessant anti-Obama crap tedious. If he were as bad as he is characterized, these knotheads would be in concentration camps or “disappeared”.
LOL, the only thing I do on facebook is reply to comments on my posts. Oh and see what my brother and sister are up to. Other then that, I feel the same as you do. 😉
It is one place where my brother and his family routinely get ahold of me on family matters, so I need to keep that in mind.
LOL. It seems are siblings are alike. Never an email, just post it on Facebook. 😀
They’d do better to email me messages or…call!
No! No! Never call, just email. 😀
(I tend to ignore phone calls, so that probably is the better way! 🙂 )
that’s what i was going to say. i only use the reader. i have never ever used the email.. there must be millions of email there.
If it wasn’t for E-Mail-Reminders I would miss some new posts, as the reader is not to be trusted to show all my blogs which I followed.
That’s a concern. On the other hand, I’m missing a lot of them because I just don’t have the time to read and/or view each one some days.
True, there is something to be said for that.
And here I am thinking I am not posting enough when I do not at least post once a week .. thank you for assuring me that my approach quality before quantity is not that wrong.
I think of it as similar to having a house guest. No matter how happy you are to see the guest on the first visit, each additional visit strains the welcome. I try not to post more than once a day, and I try to keep them light and short. (“Fluffy”!) This isn’t Shakespeare I’m trying to emulate after all, just a chance to share some of the things I enjoy with like-minded people. I love animals of all sorts, so I gravitate towards animal blogs. History and geography are interests of mine, so I enjoy blogs by people blessed with the chance to travel or live in places I’d love to visit or live in. Other interests make me a sucker for music-themed, movie-themed, photography, art, or science themed blogs. You can see why I’m buried! My interests are too eclectic!
When I first started Cats at the Bar, I looked at different numbers of posts per day. Because they are short I discovered that the best response was twice a day. Like comics in a newspaper with a morning and afternoon addition. 😉
Completely relate, it can be overwhelming. All we can do is our best, we are all human and it is ok.
I just got through the e-mails. Now I have the videos…! (I try to post videos that are a minute long or not much more. Others post these 20 minute videos that are a task to work through.)
Some bloggers make schedules. Only watch videos certain days, read blogs other, but check emails everyday. One blogger put out his schedule so everyone knew. it’s ok if you can’t get to everything everyday.
That’s an interesting approach. I hadn’t thought about doing it that way. I work through the comments first (deleting most, unread), then the blog updates, then the videos. It worked for a time, but only if I committed time to the process each day. If I didn’t feel like getting on the computer in past, there were no significant consequences. Now, well, I’ve outlined the issues above! 🙁
the ones that bug me are the ones that just show up as a link on my email, with very little hint as to what the item is.
I agree there!
It is hard to read everyone’s posts, I try to, but don’t always comment because it is time consuming. Please try to visit us today for our Dr. Seuss themed giveaway.
I missed it the first time through since I was dealing with such a glut of blogs and videos to work through. I remembered the photos, but apparently didn’t read the captions! Anyway, I posted a comment.