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"800 articles I have yet to read...Currently my instapaper account has some 800 articles I have yet to read. Kindle has about 10 books I want to read...pinboard

by rankam 12y ago

"800 articles I have yet to read...Currently my instapaper account has some 800 articles I have yet to read. Kindle has about 10 books I want to read...pinboard account has about 100 unread article" The following is just my opinion and I don't mean to be antagonistic. However, IMHO, your issue is that you think that being aware of topics is equivalent to truly understanding those topics. If you were really interested in those 100 unread pinboard articles, you would have read them - you seem to like the idea of knowing about the topics of the articles more than actually understanding the underlying concepts contained in the articles. Stop trying to "be smart". If you're interested in an article - read it. Right now - try to understand it. If you read it and don't get it, find a writeup on the same topic written by a different person and read that. Continue this until you finally "get it". If you can't take 5-30 minutes out of your day to read something, you're likely not that interested in the topic. Your entire post screams that you don't know what you want to know nor how to manage your time. If you're serious about learning, start learning - and that means not adding another thing to any list until you have crossed off everything of your existing list. Instead of adding things to lists, make an effort to try to check things off of your list that already exists. At the end of the day, life is all about choices - you can choose to continue to add things to your "to-do" list OR you can choose to start completing the existing tasks on your list.

leviathan 12y ago
I don't understand how you can do a full on attack on the OP without knowing him or his situation. You seem to think that a person has nothing else during his day than read every piece of news that comes their way. It might be a good idea to consider the fact that some people are extremely busy (with work or other tasks) but still want to stay informed. Those people would probably come across a piece of news or article that looks interesting, bookmark it to read later (because, you know, they have work now) and never get around to actually reading it because of work load. If you can stop whatever you're doing and follow up every article that seems interesting to you, you might not be doing important work, or your time is very flexible to allow such a thing. It probably isn't a good idea to generalize that this can apply to everyone.
- rankam 12y ago
  Valid and like I said, I didn't mean my comment to be antagonistic and certainly wasn't overtly trying to attack the OP. Obviously it came off like that so my apologies. But, I think you're missing my point - the information overload, in this particular case, seems to be a direct result of the decision to continually add articles to their list all the while knowing that they are never going to be able to find enough time to read them. "You seem to think that a person has nothing else during his day than read every piece of news that comes their way." I understand that my post could have been interpreted in this way, but what I actually meant was that if you are truly interested in something, start making time for that interest. Sure, no one can drop everything they're doing whenever they want to pursue each of their interests every time they arise. However, you can make the decision to create time for your interests - and this means prioritizing your interests.
  - brianmcc 12y ago
    FWIW I understood exactly what you meant, and I think you identified a real factor - it's important to identify a root cause of such self-identified "problem behaviour", not just identify coping mechanisms and carry merrily on doing so. I think you are spot on, partially at least. (I'm neither the OP, nor any idea who the OP is - but your comment resonates)
RBerenguel 12y ago
My Instapaper account has 250 unread/unfilled items, ranging from interesting algorithms to neat libraries to interesting articles. Any time I find some interesting tidbit I put it away to read when I'm not working. I can't read anything I want whenever I want, I have stuff to do during the day, can't justify to my boss if I spend 6 hours reading articles on neural networks and trying the methods if I have a project at hand that won't benefit from it
coned88 12y ago
" However, IMHO, your issue is that you think that being aware of topics is equivalent to truly understanding those topics. If you were really interested in those 100 unread pinboard articles, you would have read them - you seem to like the idea of knowing about the topics of the articles more than actually understanding the underlying concepts contained in the articles." It's not always about knowing things in and out. I am in a position where I need to know a lot about a lot of things. If developers come with some new tech and want to do xyz. It's very helpful for me to know what xyz is. If non technical people or management comes with demands abc I need to know the bounds of it. It's not great being in a meeting or on a phone call and not knowing what the other person is talking about. Not only does it make you look uneducated but it makes the other people lose respect for you. To do what I want I don't need to know everything about a topic. But knowing the basics and its existence goes a very very long way. I know a good bit about a lot of topics. Then in my specific field I know a lot more in depth.

by rankam 12y ago

leviathan 12y ago

I don't understand how you can do a full on attack on the OP without knowing him or his situation. You seem to think that a person has nothing else during his day than read every piece of news that comes their way. It might be a good idea to consider the fact that some people are extremely busy (with work or other tasks) but still want to stay informed. Those people would probably come across a piece of news or article that looks interesting, bookmark it to read later (because, you know, they have work now) and never get around to actually reading it because of work load. If you can stop whatever you're doing and follow up every article that seems interesting to you, you might not be doing important work, or your time is very flexible to allow such a thing. It probably isn't a good idea to generalize that this can apply to everyone.

rankam 12y ago
Valid and like I said, I didn't mean my comment to be antagonistic and certainly wasn't overtly trying to attack the OP. Obviously it came off like that so my apologies. But, I think you're missing my point - the information overload, in this particular case, seems to be a direct result of the decision to continually add articles to their list all the while knowing that they are never going to be able to find enough time to read them. "You seem to think that a person has nothing else during his day than read every piece of news that comes their way." I understand that my post could have been interpreted in this way, but what I actually meant was that if you are truly interested in something, start making time for that interest. Sure, no one can drop everything they're doing whenever they want to pursue each of their interests every time they arise. However, you can make the decision to create time for your interests - and this means prioritizing your interests.
- brianmcc 12y ago
  FWIW I understood exactly what you meant, and I think you identified a real factor - it's important to identify a root cause of such self-identified "problem behaviour", not just identify coping mechanisms and carry merrily on doing so. I think you are spot on, partially at least. (I'm neither the OP, nor any idea who the OP is - but your comment resonates)

RBerenguel 12y ago

My Instapaper account has 250 unread/unfilled items, ranging from interesting algorithms to neat libraries to interesting articles. Any time I find some interesting tidbit I put it away to read when I'm not working. I can't read anything I want whenever I want, I have stuff to do during the day, can't justify to my boss if I spend 6 hours reading articles on neural networks and trying the methods if I have a project at hand that won't benefit from it

coned88 12y ago

" However, IMHO, your issue is that you think that being aware of topics is equivalent to truly understanding those topics. If you were really interested in those 100 unread pinboard articles, you would have read them - you seem to like the idea of knowing about the topics of the articles more than actually understanding the underlying concepts contained in the articles." It's not always about knowing things in and out. I am in a position where I need to know a lot about a lot of things. If developers come with some new tech and want to do xyz. It's very helpful for me to know what xyz is. If non technical people or management comes with demands abc I need to know the bounds of it. It's not great being in a meeting or on a phone call and not knowing what the other person is talking about. Not only does it make you look uneducated but it makes the other people lose respect for you. To do what I want I don't need to know everything about a topic. But knowing the basics and its existence goes a very very long way. I know a good bit about a lot of topics. Then in my specific field I know a lot more in depth.