I am not the news geek I used to be

Once upon a time, I would buy the newspaper and read it. Upon recently purchasing a Kindle, and already having a BN Nook, I have come to realize that I do not consume news as I once did.

Upon buying a Kindle from the pawn shop, I thought perhaps I would get a newspaper subscription; but, I decided to buy a single issue instead. It has been two weeks; and I have not finished reading through that issue.

In that time, I have read books via the text-to-speech feature; but, I have barely touched the news.

My only other distraction, besides books, is my daily Instapaper that pulls from various sources. At most, it includes the weekly local paper.

To be fair, it is not only my news consumption that has diminished. My email also receives less and less attention, in addition to my social media presence. I do check in on occasion, posting the odd item here and there. But, it becomes more of a binge activity as of late.

When I do get online, lately, it becomes more deliberate and specific. There are things that need to be done through a computer that cannot be done through a mobile interface.

There are items that are not time sensitive that can be condensed into an Instapaper, which I can read at my leisure. I have become a fan of IFTTT recently, which allows me to passively aggregate the information I need into a single place.

I think it is too easy to create a monster Instapaper. It is best to keep it to information that you intend to use and then unsubscribe at a later date, once the need is met. In other words, rather than subscribe to a daily paper, it is better to subscribe to a weekly, biweekly, or monthly in which the daily news has been digested. If you're going to stay informed, it is better to pay somebody to summarize the news for you.

So much news is flotsam and jetsam. You can afford to wait for the Reader's Digest version.