Google Reader has also helped me manage the amount of time spent reading news. I click on "All Items" and then start scrolling through. If there are longer item

Google Reader has also helped me manage the amount of time spent reading news. I click on "All Items" and then start scrolling through. If there are longer items that seem interesting I star them so I can come back. Shorter items I skim and then move on. I also try to assess the value of an item (not everything in your reader is worth reading - really!) as I'm going. I find that things generally fall into the following categories: 1) Interesting, short, and worth reading right now. 2) Interesting, long, and worth reading later. 3) Mildly interesting but doesn't help me improve as a programmer/engineer and thus not worth reading. 4) Not interesting and not worth reading. 5) Webcomic (dilbert/penny-arcade/xkcd) The last category is self-regulating since they are only released periodically. They also take 30 seconds to parse, which seems like it's worth the enjoyment they bring. It's also worth remembering that when you're bored at work, EVERYTHING in your reader is going to seem extremely interesting (but they're not paying you to read it).