Lyons in beta

2025-08-03

About a year ago I subscribed to NPR+ which added a half dozen or so shows to my rotation. I also added the entire available backlog for each show. About 6 months ago I re-committed to RSS and added a bunch of feeds to my reader. I also added the entire available backlog for each feed. A month or two ago I went on a rare binge of subscribing to new YouTube channels. I also planned to watch the entire available backlog for each channel.

What I was trying to accomplish was to always have a curated list of high-quality stuff to prevent mindless browsing. "Do I need a podcast, article, or video right now? Well lucky for me I have thousands to pick from." But all I really accomplished was creating my own paradox of choice. More than once I caught myself mindlessly browsing to escape having to pick from the overwhelming backlog, which is the opposite of what I wanted.

Finally, I realized that it was time to declare email inbox bankruptcy, and what a relief it has been. I can't read/watch/listen-to everything so why hold myself accountable for all of history too?

If you've let yourself get into a similar position let me assure you that peace of mind is just a few archive-all and mark-all-as-read buttons away.