Keeping Up

I subscribe to 65 blogs, which is less than half compared to a few years ago. I follow 176 people on Twitter, which is more than it used to be.

I sometimes find it hard not to read everything that comes in. Clicking on "Mark all as read" when I haven't read everything is strangely difficult. I have a theory that those of us who are task-driven see unread subscriptions as a sign that we haven't completed something on our task lists.

I can't keep up. I shouldn't.

Here's what I'm learning.

• We need to be clear about our roles and responsibilities. Joe Thorne had a great post in this yesterday. We can't do everything, but we can be faithful in the roles that God has given us. Getting clarity about this allows us to purposefully drop the ball in other areas and be ok with it.


• Find some good curators. Honestly, if you read Justin Taylor, Zach Nielson, and A La Carte by Tim Challies, you're pretty much covered in that category of blogs. If you want to keep up with Mac news, Daring Fireball covers most of what you need to know. A good curator is worth 100 blogs.


• Prune. I prune a couple of times a year. It's never easy, but once I'm done I never feel like I'm missing out.


• Use tools. I like Feed a Fever. It helps me discover posts that are "hot" and therefore worth reading. I run it once a week and find stuff I otherwise would have missed.


• Relax. I'm not great at this, but I think I'm getting better. There are many things that matter more than reading blogs and tweets.

I'd love your ideas on how you manage these - both the glut of information and the guilt that comes from thinking that we're supposed to keep up.

Comments

[Mike Anderson]

Darryl, I fall off my chair when I read that you follow 65 blogs. Then you say you've whittled it down by half! Honest question: how much time do you spend a day reading blogs? And twitter? Who gives a flying fadoo about what anyone has to say in a line? I suppose I'm a 33 year-old dinosaur. I read 1-2 blogs, maybe once a week. I would give up my first-born son before following anyone on twitter. (Nothing personal, Joseph.) O.K. I'm maybe overstating the case. But in all honesty, I find immense freedom in realizing I don't have to follow the information overload that characterizes our day in order to be a healthy functioning person or pastor. (By the way, I find your blog a helpful 'curator' through the Saturday Links section. Thanks for that.)

[Darryl]

Mike:Here I was thinking I was doing well cutting things back to 65 blogs! It's all relative I suppose. I've never tracked how long this takes, but my guess is it's no more than 20 minutes a day. One of these days I'll track how long.I like the freedom you have not to become enslaved to the glut of online information. I like that a lot.

[Craig]

I would have to agree with Mike; the time spent on the computer, especially for a Pastor is worthy of ruthless analysis. Think of all the time wasted over the months and years and begin to redeem the time for the days are evil.

[Kim]

I agree with Craig. I don't know how a pastor can have a regular blog and steward their time for God and the church well. It's nothing personal just that over the years the church gets robbed by a pastors hobby.

[Darryl]

I agree: Craig's words are wise. The potential for wasting time online is immense. I would also so that the potential for large benefit is there as well, but not without its dangers. I know I have benefited greatly from reading some of the thoughtful blogs that have pushed me (I think) in a more faithful direction.A pastor's time is hard to measure. I know many pastors who are lazy. I know many more pastors who need to rest more. I may return to this in a future post. Wisdom is definitely needed.