I’ve been reading blogs now for a while, and I love to do so.
But sometimes following blogs takes entirely too much time.
I can spend hours each day reading blogs–and all too often I do.
Which means that other things–homemaking, books, but mostly people–get cheated.
I’ve known for a while that it was a problem, but I couldn’t figure out how to deal with it.
I don’t want to give up blog reading. I don’t want to give up the friendships I’ve built through blogging. I don’t want to stop.
And I’m not.
But I am cutting back. I’m going through my Google reader, the reader that easily grows to 500 posts for every day I’m away…
I’m going through and unfollowing.
Each unfollow nearly breaks my heart.
I think of how much I appreciate those people who read my blog–you guys. I think of how much I enjoy reading blogs in general. I think of the people I’ve come to love through their blogs, even if they don’t know my name, even if I frankly find most of their content boring.
I don’t want to unfollow them.
I consider their disappointment when their blog statistics drop rather than expand.
I hate to do it.
But I have to.
I have to draw the line somewhere. I have to decide that life is more than the internet. I have to fully engage with those people and those things that God has put into my (nonvirtual) life here.
And so I click that terrible button: “Unsubscribe”
Just like I don’t want to unsubscribe to all those blogs, I also don’t want to tell you what I’m telling you now:
Please unfollow this blog.
If the virtual life of the blogosphere is starting to take more time or attention than real life. If my blog is stealing time that should be spent with your family, with your friends. If reading this blog brings you down rather than lifting your eyes to Christ.
Please unfollow this blog.
No blog is so important that it’s worth missing Christ. No blog is so important that it’s worth missing family. No blog is so important that it’s worth missing friends. No blog is so important that it’s worth missing what God has for you to do today.
If this blog stands in the way of what God is calling you to…
Please unfollow this blog.
Amen to all of this!
I’ll still follow you though. ;-)
Definitely an eye-catching title here. =D And haha – I’m not unsubscribing either.
But I do agree with all of your points. I went through and unfollowed a few myself because it takes time to read and scroll. Mostly though – within the past few weeks – I’ve just commented less. WHich I really hate doing. And I’ve tried just to limit my comments on people’s sites that I don’t know so very well. (Instead of building up another relationship, trying to be faithful to the old, etc.) Like yourself, it’s about trying to redeem the time and not spend so much of it on the computer. I’ve really been wrestling with how to do this these past few weeks.
So I totally support your decisions and understand them. The computer can be both a blessing and a vice. Figuring out how to make blogs and the internet more of a blessing is definitely something worth thinking about!
me either! I so look forward to reading your blog. so many are just mindless chatter but yours offers something: encouragement, enlightenment,education…I am here to stay. I still have family time, bibles study time, cooking and cleaning, etc. But I have to have “me” time too. And I love visiting YOU! God bless you!
I know exactly what you mean. I spend more time reading blogs now than I do reading books (and other things). Perhaps that’s okay, I suppose, but I feel like I’m less in control of what I read this way. So I have to take unsubscribing binges from time to time, too. I admire you for doing it and for issuing the invitation to unsubscribe from you.
But like the others, I’m not unsubscribing either. :-) Your content is valuable.
I definitely have to purge my Google Reader and prioritize based on whether people update often enough, general interest of topic/person, and how much it fills up my reader.
But it’s pretty often that I’ll skip over posts if they aren’t eye-catching or seemingly relevant. No offence, but I’ll skip over your posts of what you are reading because I’ve already got so many books that I want to evaluate based on other sources but other topics do really grab my interest and engage me more.
Matthew-No offense taken. I hope everyone feels the freedom to either skip posts that aren’t informative/useful/entertaining to them–or to stop reading my blog altogether if it isn’t benefiting them. I want to encourage people to walk in what God has for them–and if reading my blog doesn’t do that, my encouragement is that they stop reading.
Well, I’ve thought of doing this too, but I have a list on the side of my blog (as opposed to the much longer list in the Google reader) which I tend to read almost every day.
It can become time-consuming, but I may skip some if the title is something that doesn’t interest me. That doesn’t mean it’s *uninteresting*, but it may not be where I am in my life.
My blog friends are now a real part of me. That may sound ridiculous, but I’m a stay-at-home mum, I leave the house rarely (and I wouldn’t have it any other way), so I catch up with my cyber-friends and it keeps me happy. And sane….relatively ;)
So…after all that…. I’m staying! x