RSS obsession

Really Simple Syndication or Really Simple (I'm a) Sucker?

I have 24 sites in my RSS reader on my work computer. That's probably not a lot compared to many (or most?) people who use RSS, but it sure keeps me busy. Many of the sites update many times a day. Each time a new article is posted, my RSS reader blinks a transparent "RSS" logo in the middle of the screen. It's quick and unobtrusive, but the moment I see that logo pop up, I HAVE to check what the headline is. I have literally no self control to wait until I'm done doing what I'm doing. It doesn't matter if I'm writing an important email or on the phone with someone, I instantly click to see what the headline is.

Could this be classified as an addition? Maybe not medically, but I would definitely consider it to be one. I can't even get any work done in the morning until after I go through all of the new headlines that came in since I left work the day before. That sometimes takes up to an hour.

Where am I going with this? The obvious route. It's been said many times before, but technology makes our lives way too complicated. Before I started using RSS to keep up on my favorite sites, I would only check said sites when I was bored with no work to do. If I missed stuff that was posted, it wasn't a big deal. My favorite sites would get checked every day and others just once a week. Now that I have something that updates me automatically, I've become completely addicted and cannot ignore them. Sometimes I even get stressed out if my RSS reader backs up a little. I can't stand to see it showing that I have unread items and will stress myself out over trying to read everything and get my work done.

RSS as taken my web browsing from something that I did only when I had nothing better to do and made it something that comes to me and distracts me all the time, whether I have other things to do or not.

Will I stop using RSS anytime soon because of this? Nope. In fact, even as I was typing this entry I was clicking on links to all kinds of things from my RSS reader. I even added another site to my reader while posting this because of one of the links that came up.