Let me be the first to admit I have a problem here. I started blogging 6 months ago and I thought, you know, that I could handle it - there was no way I would turn into one of those mommy bloggers who are glued to the computer for hours every day, chatting with people they've never seen and looking at pictures of other people's kids while ignoring their own.
Well, today I realized (while batting my 5-year-old daughter away from the computer) that I have 62 blogs on my reader. 62. That's ridiculous. Add to that the fact that some of you are blogging overachievers who feel the need to post more than once a day, and you've got a recipe for serious child neglect on my part.
I don't know how this happened to me. I used to wax rhapsodic about the joys of living in the real world and seeing people face-to-face; I would criticize (gently) those of my friends who were neglecting the real people in their lives in order to spend time online with people they had never even met. What is the world coming to? I asked self-righteously.
It's coming to this. I'm addicted to blogging. Every morning when I wake up, I promise myself that I will spend an entire day (well, until 9 PM, anyway) blogfree, focusing instead on my house and on my children. And every single morning, I fail to keep my promise. This disturbs me. If we were talking about alcohol rather than blogging, I'd be in a 12-step program by now.
So, tell me - how many blogs are on your reader? Or, for those of you semi-Luddites without a reader, how many blogs do you check each day?
[I did take my kids to the library today, in between blog posts - and I read to Rachel twice. I made dinner, too. So I don't think I have hit bottom yet. But it is a slippery slope.]
88. Though some of those are craigslist searches as well as web-comics or blogs that rarely if ever post.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that every morning I have about 40-50 new posts and probably at least that many or more throughout the day.
Welcome to my world ;)
ReplyDeleteScary how addicting it gets, isn't it?
Hey, I'm Kalynne, and I'm a blogaholic. ("Hey, Kalynne.")
ReplyDeleteI have 40 subscriptions on my reader, but most of them I don't really read. (I do read the Mommy Bloggers every time they have a new feed, and a few of the academics on my blogroll. I've stopped reading most of the agent/publishing blogs -- except for Evil Editor -- because they remind me that I haven't gotten an offer of representation yet, and that's too depressing.)
Here's an idea that has helped me cut back: I shut my computer down when I go to bed. (Yes, I admit that I used to get up in the middle of the night to check my reader and work on my next post.) My laptop takes so long to start up that I don't have time to do any blog-checking until evening.
I tried putting a little clock on my blog to show me when my daily time limit is up, but I'm not usually reading my own blog, so that was essentially futile.
Maybe we really could start a Bloggers Anonymous support group. Oh, wait, that would be self-defeating, wouldn't it?
Guess I'd better go make dinner, speak to my children, grade some student papers. Thanks for letting me share. ("Thanks, Kalynne.")
Relax! Enjoy the ride down the slippery slope. I have been accused of neglecting my chores (children) to pay attention to my blog but I can't help it. It doesn't cost me anything, makes me smile and doesn't call me snotty, mean names. Don't leave the blogosphere - I would miss reading about mice, kids and vomit. You just can't get that anywhere, you know? I go from post to post (at least 20 a day) in between work to give myself a little break in between tasks.
ReplyDeleteI have 52. I LOVE blogging, but I'm with you. It's addictive and way too time consuming. I think I need to cut down.
ReplyDeleteBoy do I feel like a crazy. I have 140! I only check one when it has several posts though so I can scan them at once - it's the only way I can keep up.
ReplyDeleteEr, 122.
ReplyDeleteI KNOW, shut up. In my defense, I don't read every day. And I only comment now if I'm really really in the mood. And you know what an infrequent, spotty blogger I am now. So I can justify the reading to myself.
I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM.
Much.
Sixty two blogs in your reader? Holy bats.
ReplyDeleteI have blogs in my reader, but I quit using it ages ago. Too many blogs.
It is SO addicting.
ReplyDeleteI don't have my blogs in a reader, I just check them regularly so I guess that helps (minimally).
And I promised myself this would be the last one I checked before I shut off my computer.
So I'm shutting if off now. really. I am. well, very soon.
I just started in Dec. my way to rationalize it is.........we are eating better dinners (found lots of recipes. hehe)we have more pictures for keepsakes, hehe. I dont scrapbook so this is my scrap book. hehe. My name is Kelli and I am a blogaholic. hehe
ReplyDelete:) Welcome to our world.
ReplyDeleteExcept I don't manage to check everyone every day. I'm sporadic. Spontaneous. Yeah, that's it.
I'm not going to count them. If I don't know, it must not be a problem.
ReplyDeleteNo, it is a problem. But hey, I still manage to take 15 units in college, hold down a part-time job, and keep the house going.
Sleep? I don't need no stinkin' sleep.
BTW--stop by today, you're featured in my post!
At least 40. Fortunately, not everyone posts everyday so sometimes it's just a quick in and out. But, yeah. Now I'm just making excuses. I'm so ashamed.
ReplyDeleteSee, I can't be a blogaholic just yet because I don't keep a reader. I just flip around through people on my blogroll and people who commented on my blog or their blogs or those people's blogs, and I get lost a lot. I have no freaking idea how many people I'm sorta keeping up with. I'm trying to figure out what is the best time of day and amount of time to spend on this and I don't think I have found a healthy balance yet at all. Since I haven't had a spare moment to myself to even use the bathroom in the last 16 yrs, and since the twins were born I have had no social life whatsoever or any hobbies or anything, so I don't feel too terribly guilty about it though.
ReplyDelete95. sigh. Yep. 9...5. When I get up in the morning I make a cup of coffee, grab the laptop and get back in bed. I go to bloglines to see who posted and read away for about 45 minutes. If I miss a morning because, God forbid, the kids have to print something out for school well, I get a little crabby. :) Then there are nights like tonight. The two oldest are out and the youngest is doing something else in her room the hubby is watching tv and I have the laptop in my....lap and I'm reading blogs.
ReplyDeleteI need intervention.
dawn
I don't want to tell you. Does that mean I have a problem.
ReplyDelete63, but they don't all post regularly. Plus one that won't get into my Reader for some reason. I try to catch up periodically throughout the day, I don't always comment, and oh, but I have Ravelry too, which is also a really fun imaginary friend time suck, with lots of pretty pictures. :-)
ReplyDeleteAbout 20 for me, but I check them multiple times a day (hey, someone could have posted in the last ten minutes!) so I'll admit I have a problem. But it could be worse, right? Right?
ReplyDeleteDon't have a reader...I'm clueless on that... but I blog hop ALL DAY LONG. I do have a problem.
ReplyDeleteMy rationalization... I didn't do baby books, I don't do photo albums. I blog and dammit my kids will enjoy reading it one day!
Jen
blogs.timesunion.com/austinbenconnor
I think it gets better. I've been blogging for a while now and even though I have 91 feeds in my bloglines account, I hardly ever visit them. I think the surge of the new that gets you addicted at the start fades a bit. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
ReplyDeleteOOH - I didn't know I could have them automated!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm a 9 a day girl!
That's pathetic isn't it?
Just think of it as free therapy...
Reading 100's is obviously obsessive, but knowing that there are other women in the same situation as you has huge value, especially if you're having a bad day!
Another blogaholic out of the closet. I only have about 30 in my reader but frequently link around (blog slut?).
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem with it is deciding an extra 30 seconds in my day is plenty of time. Then I'm nearly late picking up HRH at school.
As I am (I think) on your blog reader, I wanted to comment. Thank you for reading me! I probably only read two other blogs on a daily basis, and I will come here a couple of times a week, but that's it. Too many kids - too much to do, and I have to share the computer with all of them, which really cuts my time down. I will admit though, that the time does go by really quickly on the computer.
ReplyDeleteMaria - mom of 6
http://blogs.timesunion.com/largefamilylife
I have about 15 blogs that I read almost everyday. Like most, I just pop in...comment if I can...and then off I go. I sometimes get caught up in reading comments though as some are freaking funny!! And then, there is where I go astray....someone makes a good comment, then I go and check out THAT blog...and from there...to....another place...and then 2 hours later, I realize that I don't know where I am or how I got there!! :-D
ReplyDeleteFor me...once the newness wears off (I'm relatively new at this!) then maybe it'll get better. But for now...thank God I can survive on about 5 hours of sleep a night!!!
I'm lovin' it....this is "my time" and time that I need to refresh!!
Um, way more than 62. But I have them prioritized. And not everyone updates daily. And I can stop anytime. Really I can.
ReplyDelete[slip, sliding away...}
I share your dilemma. Here's my thoughts on this -- do you like to read? Yup. Do you enjoy writing? Yup?
ReplyDeleteAccess to endless supplies of both ju-ju?
Trouble!
I actually prefer reading and writing to any other activity. Consider those words: Any Other Activity.
That includes eating and sex. How's that? So I'm just giving in entirely. . . .
There's also room here for a more philosophical discussion on the nature of selfhood. I hate to get into it (but . . .) if you're a post-structuralist, you would say we're living in a time when structures are collapsing, of all sorts. Think of the internet, and how that has changed the institutions to which one used to walk to to interact with.
People are also structures and we, by definition, are much less self-contained than we ever have been. If you extend this theory to its final conclusion, the 'self' changes constantly. Once you read this comment, you have new information.
Pick up the coffee cup and drink? New sensation.
YOU are new. You are a constantly changing, interacting, morphing entity.
The internet is part of that less structured, less contained 'self.' We get to consciously create 'self.'
Okay, this self is done with the lecture and headed off for her FOUR mile run in 10 degree weather. This self is insane.
I don't use a reader, but I visit the ones on my blogroll (thirty-something). Some of those I visit every day, and others 2 or 3 times a week. I also check out some new ones occasionally. And I don't post every day or I'd never get anything done. :)
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of dividing up my reader and assigning specific bloggers to specific days...for instance, I might only visit your blog to catch up and comment on Wednesdays. Just a thought. All I know is I love to read everyone’s thoughts and the comments...but I also need to study and go grocery shopping and interact with those I love....it's a fine balance.
ReplyDeleteA modest 31. But I watch less TV now, so I think I've effectively made a trade-off, right? Right?
ReplyDeleteI'm a new blogger and I am amazed at how addicting it is!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a blog reader thingy but I may soon!
Ah, 89? And I was about to add yours? Cough cough. Anyways, I was *just* getting mocked for this last night when I was up late, oh, noodling around, and my mocker asked, "Have you read all the web pages in China yet? dot cn..." Shorthand for said mocking= tap a tap...
ReplyDeleteA ton. On the handy other hand, I don't spend as much time shopping on line...
ReplyDelete45 feeds. I was really addicted when I started in 9/06. Because I thought I actually had something to say. I'M A FOOL.
ReplyDeleteBut now I know I blog to avoid finishing my final draft of my novel. It's like any addiction, it just is an avoidance.
Ahem, over 60 now. If there's a 12-step program for blogging I'm not ready to admit myself yet.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a reader because I am technologically challenged.
ReplyDeleteI do, however have about 50 blogs in my favorites. I check about 15 of them daily, others less frequently, and some not at all.
I work at home, and sometimes blogging might keep me from working, so I say to myself :
"Self, when you get this work project done, you may read one blog"
That works really well until I read one, and as I comment, I notice someone else who's blog I would like to read, so I bop on over there "really quick" and they remind me of another blog...............
Hey, at least I got one work project done, right?
If I really had a blogging-addiction problem, I wouldn't have accomplished anything. Right?
I should probably go do some dishes.
Wow. You are some die-hard blog-mamas. I only have about 15 that I read regularly. The rest of the time I just troll. They have to be pretty good to get added to my "daily" read. And I never read on Sundays.
ReplyDeleteBut it is so addicting;)
I don't subscribe to blogs, if I like a blog I visit it from my blog roll so they'll know it's me. I generally have about five new blogs bookmarked that I'm checking out, I usually read for a month before I decide if I will add them to my blogroll. Sometimes I will get bored of a blog and will remove it from my blogroll as I add new ones. So I probably check about 30 blogs each day.
ReplyDeleteI have a long list, and I am guilty of reading them all most days. I used to comment on every single one every single day because I raised southern and Catholic and, according to the Code of Politeness, you aren't supposed to show up to anybody's house empty handed. Like Mary Alice, I am working on a way to divide my reading list into days. I'm not going to mention WHO told me about Google reader.
ReplyDeleteHypocrite Here,
ReplyDeleteI tell my kids no electronic entertainment for a month and then I go and surf blogs when no one is looking. Ugh, I'm not too bad though; I just started blogging last October and only have around 7 blogs that I check regularly. Yes, your one of them because we have so much in common. I do try to blog when the kids are re-charging (sleeping), because if I tried when they were awake the house would be repainted or burned down. Sigh, I hate additions - Darn that chocolate too.
I have 80 and add more every week. But I don't feel too bad. I try to keep my blogging to early morning before the family is awake and while the kids are at preschool. However, if I have a free minute I pop in to see if anything new has posted. I also try to not to peak once my husband gets home. It's hard though...I get antsy if I can't get online!
ReplyDeleteI only read about 25 but to be efficient, I only read one word per post...
ReplyDeleteFour...No, Three now that The OCD Chick has quit.
ReplyDelete66 on Bloglines. About 2 dozen knitting/spinning that I haven't transferred over. And maybe half a dozen home dec blogs that I haven't moved yet. Plus the private ones that I can't subscribe to.
ReplyDeleteI don't see a problem here. Do you?
i only have 15 - i'm such a blogaholic failure compared to you. i can only dream...
ReplyDeleteNine. But I haven't got a blog reader yet. I plan to get one though and that will probably do me in. I don't read books any more!
ReplyDeleteWow, there is some serious blog-perusing going on here. Could this be affecting our gross national product?
ReplyDeleteI probably have about two dozen blogs that I skim regularly. I consider it part of a day's "work," but like you I feel vaguely guilty when I spend too much time in the blogosphere (or when I get up an hour early to write my blog because I know I'll be busy later in the morning). Perhaps it's a generational thing. We (and I think I can speak for both of us) are from a time when sitting and looking at a screen did not equate with time well spent.
I've been blogging almost three years now. I don't use a reader. I have about 40 blogs on my blogroll but many of them I just check in on once in a while. Some are inactive and need to be deleted. There's probably about 10 blogs I check regularly (almost daily).
ReplyDeleteI live overseas and my best friends here are ones I met through my blog.
Wow it looks from the comments that I need to get on the stick I only have 27 blogs that I look at regularly.
ReplyDeleteI was feeling guilty about this very thing just this morning. After reading this I feel sooooo much better. I only have 19 on my reader and two of them are there out of guilt. Like I need a new kind of guilt in my life. So, clearly I'm not addicted, I'm only dabbling.
ReplyDeleteI have been addicted and I took a week break this week and feel like I am soooooooo out of the loop.
ReplyDeleteI check around 30, probably. I don't keep track on purpose, so I don't know. Denial is a good thing.
Well, it WAS 81, and then I realized, "HEY! I don't have Suburban Correspondent on my blogroll!", so now it is 82. WAY too many to manage. If I don't keep on top of it, I get to 100+ posts to read easily in just over 24 hours. If I miss a weekend, it gets to over 300.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to set limits----only check my computer twice a day---and I fail within about 2 minutes.
Wow! You provoked quite a response. If I get any more addicted I'm in serious unable-to-pay-the-mortgage trouble. I think the freelance keeps me in check--if it didn't, I'd be seriously considering a 12-step.
ReplyDeleteCrap- I moseyed on over here after reading the Mom Bomb. You've only been blogging for 6 months?! I'm thinking you have been on here forever and evah and that's why you have so MANY. Crap.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is my entry to this obsession is through the food blog world. It's like a whole underground of addicts. So not only do they encourage me to read more blogs they encourage me to bake more cupcakes. And taked pics of them.
Will this insanity never end?!?!
I am embaressed to admit how many blogs I have. It's more than 200, I'll just say that much. I don't even read 1/4 of them. I have used Google Reader as a bookmark to save blogs when I run across some that may be of interest. Looks like I'll be spending a few hours purging out some blogs tonight. Thanks! :p
ReplyDeleteOk, because I am inept, I actually misread and actually had 77 subscriptions. I now have 61. Not bad.
ReplyDeleteI know your pain, I know your joy. I am NOT going to count the number of blogs on my Google Reader. You're on there. (I hope I'm on yours.) We're not scary. I am happier as a SAHM because I have blogs to read. It makes me feel less isolated and confined. So if we need to be in a twelve-step program, we can do it through our blogs. (I just wrote about that NYTimes piece on my own blog.)
ReplyDelete