While reading an article about why people still use paper, even prefer it, in 2022, this sentence jumped out at me:
The task of reading a page, paper or book can be completed, unlike the bottomless, shape-shifting black hole of the internet.
– “The stubborn persistence of paper in a digital world“, The Financial Times
I suddenly realised why I prefer reading through my RSS feeds over Twitter or any online website: it is finite.
Especially if you’ve chosen your RSS feeds well, you know you’re caught up on everything that matters to you.
In theory, email is also similarly limited. In practice it rarely feels like it – you’re never in control of who sends you email.
Even leaving aside spam, unread mail almost always piles up. We rarely delete all email or mark it as read en masse, for fear we may miss something important.
On the other hand RSS is just… stuff other people have written to everyone in general and no one in particular. You can declare RSS bankruptcy with abandon however often you like.
I wonder if one’s personal RSS feed is the last truly personal – as opposed to personalised – window to the world.