FWP: I have more content than I have time to consume

[mcsangel2]

For most of my life, reading was my preferred pastime. Goodreads was life changing when it came on the scene, the best way to organize my to read list AND find books with my specific interests. Since 2008 (when I joined), I had maybe a little more than 200 books on my to read list. While always adding new ones, I was good at purging when necessary, and now my to read list stands at 70. (I have a dread of dying with books unread!). For the last 10 years, I have been reading between 30-50 books a year. So far this year I'm at 23 (ouch).



Then 2 or 3 years ago, I started following certain channels on YouTube. Some of them aren't active and I just follow them as bookmarkers for easy access to old vids, but I think there are something like 10 active channels.



Then last year, I started listening to podcasts. I have 100 episodes of various shows bookmarked, and another one with a dense subject that I have in a list I listen to specifically when I walk.



This doesn't even take into account stuff like shows on streaming, which I am watching way less of and shows I do have to be REALLY good and interesting to me.



On the one hand, I think it's amazing that there's all this high quality content available to me that would have seemed unfathomable 30 (even 20, even 10) years ago. But it's starting to stress me out that I can't keep up and the unread/unwatched/unlistened lists are getting longer and longer.



Anyone else in the same boat??

[dancingirl21]

Yep, I’m right there with you. There’s so many things I want to read and watch, but just not enough time.

My Goodreads currently has 401 want to read books, and I read 90-100 per year. My problem is I don’t go back and read older stuff often enough. I love to read recent releases, so my TBR list never gets shorter.

Similar with shows. I have a list of about 20 that I have either started or want to start.

Information overload is a real thing, and I occasionally feel overwhelmed with the amount that I want to consume.

[meanie]

Yes, I have to take breaks from certain things and rotate. Right now I am on my audio book kick and aim for ~75 books a year.

I also have about 20 YouTube channels I follow for gardening and minimalism, I used to feel "behind" if I missed videos from the gardening channel I love, but I have taken a step back from watching and just follow the Facebook group instead.

There are only so many hours in a day! I like audio books because I can listen while I work or in the car. Anything I need to sit down and give all my attention to just isn't going to happen right now.

[minzy]

Not so much with books or content lately with me but I basically want to do all the things and sometimes I just physically can’t. I frequently think of the Robert Browning quote: “Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?” So, there’s valor in the attempt anyway even if you don’t make it!

[tacokick]

I don’t really keep track of the numbers of books I want to read. I see something I’m interested in and add it to Libby or suggest it to the library and read it as it comes in. I do read very quickly so I can keep up as they come in but I don’t think seeing actual numbers is super helpful.

I do find I am interested in more things than actually turn out to be enjoyable so if a new book or podcast or tv show comes out, I will switch my attention to that briefly, see if I actually like it and then return it or delete it if I’m not. Some times I am excited about something and it turns out it’s just not very good. That might be a way to prune your lists a little.

We watch lot of TV but I try to accumulate some episodes and then knock the whole show off at once rather watch as they air. The shorter seasons of most shows now helps with that. It’s less to keep track of week to week.

[statgirl]

I have 298 books on my library “wish to read” list. I read 200+ year, but I like new books too so I am always adding. I get overwhelmed and clear it out about once a year. I can only move books to the hold list when I have less than 10 out. I also collect free books from the library and piles at work that I don’t read fast enough—those get to stay one year and if I haven’t finished them, they get released into the wild.

I, luckily, don’t get too caught up on TV so my list is shorter.

I did podcasts for a bit but got obsessive on prior episodes so I had to stop.

All this to say, you are not alone.

[arehopsveggies]

Yes, and with grad school I feel like I need to reread old comforting favorites instead of exciting new things. Then I worry I’m getting “behind” in some imagine race to read new things?

[mcsangel2]

Oct 12, 2023 22:06:07 GMT -5 arehopsveggies said:

Yes, and with grad school I feel like I need to reread old comforting favorites instead of exciting new things. Then I worry I’m getting “behind” in some imagine race to read new things?

All I know is, if I die before I read everything on my list, I'm going to be so mad at myself!

[arehopsveggies]

Oct 12, 2023 22:15:55 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Oct 12, 2023 22:06:07 GMT -5 arehopsveggies said:

Yes, and with grad school I feel like I need to reread old comforting favorites instead of exciting new things. Then I worry I’m getting “behind” in some imagine race to read new things?

All I know is, if I die before I read everything on my list, I'm going to be so mad at myself!

My grandpa was the first one in our family to read Outlander, years and years and years ago. I still say I can’t believe he died without knowing how the series ends!

[mrsukyankee]

I made the conscious decision to unfollow a lot of things. I now search as needed - so right now I'm trying to figure out my next book or two. It takes off pressure and I don't feel I'm missing out on anything because I don't know what's out there. If I see more than two books I'd like, I only choose one and don't bookmark the others - because there will aways be a good book, or good video, etc that I'll find in my next search. Will I miss something. Yes. Is that oaky? Yes. I can let go of FOMO.

[justemily]

Ugh, I understand.

My Goodreads "To Read" list is OUT OF CONTROL. I read posts on here and end up adding 3-4 to the list. Wash rinse repeat from all over the internet. I read/listen to about 60 books a year, so I do make a slight dent, but...

And yes, then I have podcasts... and tv shows... and, and, and.

[expectantsteelerfan]

For some reason it does not bother me to think of books on my 'to read' list never being read. It might be because I add things to my list pretty casually, and doing things like entering the give-aways on goodreads enters books to your 'want to read' list as well even if you don't REALLY care about reading them that much. Plus, I mostly use the library e-lending library to get my books, and there will be times when NOTHING is available, so I do go back to the very beginning of my to-read list to find stuff that might be available right now to check out when that happens. And I'll request like 20 books at a time of things that aren't available, and then they all come in right at the same time, and I have no idea why I wanted to read any of them, and I end up scratching my head about a lot of them, so I figure if there are books that go unread, it's no big deal. If there's a book I REALLY want to read, I buy it and read it ASAP.

As for streaming tv content, there are plenty of shows that I start and give up on or just totally forget about. For some reason, with books, I have to finish no matter how much I don't enjoy it, but I guard my time much more carefully with tv. Even with shows that everyone else LOVES, if I'm just not that into it, I can let it go. Like I enjoyed the 1st 2 seasons of Ted Lasso, but I didn't LOVE it, and then we stopped having the service it was on, and now we have it again, and I just don't care enough to watch more of it.

[strawberry]

I have 1798 books on my want to read list on goodreads. I don’t use it as a to-do list though, so it doesn’t bother me. I see it as a place to put books to remember the title names in case I need a book to read. I almost never even look at that list, because now I have another list, the wish list on the library app that I usually choose from. That is full to the maximum limit. I’ll never read all of either of those lists of books. I’m ok with that. I read almost 50 books a year. That’s plenty. I just see the lists as a way to narrow the titles down to what I would be interested in reading from all available titles.

I guess I do the same with the lists on the tv streaming platforms. I don’t watch a lot and my lists of shows are very long. I usually pick one show to watch & watch it all the way, then move on to another.

It’s all supposed to be fun & entertaining. Not stressful.

[livinitup]

My H’s car even has WiFi, so now I can travel without a book (or 2).

With all of these options for easy entertainment, I am shocked at how much less I read (real books). I don’t think this is a great trend for me.

[tacokick]

To show how ruthless I am about previewing a book and then discarding it from my list I checked Storygraph and I have 155 books just from 2023 that I started and didn’t finish. Once I got in the habit, I’ve found I can tell pretty quickly if I’m going to like a book or not. And if I change my mind later, I can always go back to it. That rarely happens though!

[basilosaurus]

Yep. I just accept I'm going to delete, and my life won't suffer.

I'll miss the trivia I've gotten, the history of science, but end of day I'll still be ok and still have more knowledge than many

[wise_rita]

I've never gotten into podcasts, I think that helps to limit my options. And I still have infinity entertainment options!

Yet here I am on this board of strangers.

[mcsangel2]

Oct 12, 2023 23:09:10 GMT -5 arehopsveggies said:

Oct 12, 2023 22:15:55 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

All I know is, if I die before I read everything on my list, I'm going to be so mad at myself!

My grandpa was the first one in our family to read Outlander, years and years and years ago. I still say I can’t believe he died without knowing how the series ends!

There are so many ladies on the Outlander group on FB that regularly gripe to Diana Gabaldon about how long she's taking to write the series, because they are 75+ and they are concerned they will die before she finishes.

[litskispeciality]

Very much. I've started getting in to Podcasts, but only during work, and often shut them off to focus on work. It's either too many episodes and I jump around, or I get caught up and forget about them.

Reading has really fallen off my radar this year, but it's slowly starting to come back. Last year I read a record 30 books, this year I've finished 12, and hope to get to 14 by EOM. At this point I just want to read a few pages a day for pleasure, and hope to reset next year. I'm trying to get better about putting down bad books, however I still give them more than 100 pages, and that has cost me this year. Posters on here also recommended downloading the Kindle app to read when I have downtime like waiting in line, or waiting at an apt, and that helps. Those silly challenges like perfect week or month, and the stats of how many days or weeks I've read is pretty appealing, although I hate that it doesn't measure paper books.

I've been trying to pick up paper books (if available in the library) to go along with an e-book. Sometimes I just don't want to look at a screen. It's also motivating to move the physical bookmark. E-books help too, however my library doesn't have the best selection for what I read, or long waits.

Shows are tricky. I've been spending more free time outside until it's too cold to do so (I don't ski, snowboard or like snow.) My DVR is full so I'll probably start to watch shows again, but I find I keep going back to Big Bang Theory re-runs or HGTV house flipping shows instead of something new. I think it's a combo of too many options (streaming, cable etc.), hard to follow/hard to make watch lists, and just not having the energy to follow a new plot, so I'll watch the same thing until I fall asleep.

[litskispeciality]

Oct 13, 2023 9:29:15 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Oct 12, 2023 23:09:10 GMT -5 arehopsveggies said:

My grandpa was the first one in our family to read Outlander, years and years and years ago. I still say I can’t believe he died without knowing how the series ends!

There are so many ladies on the Outlander group on FB that regularly gripe to Diana Gabaldon about how long she's taking to write the series, because they are 75+ and they are concerned they will die before she finishes.

My husband LOVES the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, and loves the rumor that SK got motivated to finish the series because a prisoner on death row wrote in saying they wanted to know how it ends.
Not sure if it's true.

OP - have you tried re-reading a book? I've been told that on here several times that it helps posters get back in to reading, and probably goes faster because you already know the plot. I should do that, but feel I read "so little" I'll never get through get to the new stuff.

[mcsangel2]

Oct 13, 2023 9:33:12 GMT -5 litskispeciality said:

Oct 13, 2023 9:29:15 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

There are so many ladies on the Outlander group on FB that regularly gripe to Diana Gabaldon about how long she's taking to write the series, because they are 75+ and they are concerned they will die before she finishes.

My husband LOVES the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, and loves the rumor that SK got motivated to finish the series because a prisoner on death row wrote in saying they wanted to know how it ends.
Not sure if it's true.

OP - have you tried re-reading a book? I've been told that on here several times that it helps posters get back in to reading, and probably goes faster because you already know the plot. I should do that, but feel I read "so little" I'll never get through get to the new stuff.

Yes, I reread a couple of year (I have a GR list just for the ones I want to reread!), and I'm in the middle of one now, one I love, but for some reason it's turned into a slog. I just started a new book, a nonfiction that I am really into the story, but even that I can't read as much as I want to each day. In bed is the best place for me to read, but due to the medication I take now, I can't stay awake very long once I'm in bed.

When I first got into podcasts, I thought it was great and I could just listen to them all day long while working (where previously I had been listening to ASMR or nature sounds). Then it turned out that it took more attention than I thought and I wasn't getting enough work done. So I'm not listening as much as I'd like.

[doggielover]

I'm finding that reading tends to relax me and lowers my anxiety. We lost power this morning at 4:30 and I grabbed my kindle to try and calm down (losing power drives my anxiety up for some reason).

[sonrisa]

I was - and then I just stopped keeping track or trying to keep up. I remember reading something years ago where the writer realized they had more staples than they would ever use, so in essence their staples would outlive them. I think of that. I am not worrying about my podcasts outliving me. Whatever I get to is what I get to.

[pinkdutchtulips]

Oct 13, 2023 1:00:00 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I made the conscious decision to unfollow a lot of things. I now search as needed - so right now I'm trying to figure out my next book or two. It takes off pressure and I don't feel I'm missing out on anything because I don't know what's out there. If I see more than two books I'd like, I only choose one and don't bookmark the others - because there will aways be a good book, or good video, etc that I'll find in my next search. Will I miss something. Yes. Is that oaky? Yes. I can let go of FOMO.

same ...  i have lots of screenshots of books i want to read, i'll get them eventually. No rush. 

[jane6672]

Oct 13, 2023 9:33:12 GMT -5 litskispeciality said:

Oct 13, 2023 9:29:15 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

There are so many ladies on the Outlander group on FB that regularly gripe to Diana Gabaldon about how long she's taking to write the series, because they are 75+ and they are concerned they will die before she finishes.

My husband LOVES the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, and loves the rumor that SK got motivated to finish the series because a prisoner on death row wrote in saying they wanted to know how it ends.
Not sure if it's true.

OP - have you tried re-reading a book? I've been told that on here several times that it helps posters get back in to reading, and probably goes faster because you already know the plot. I should do that, but feel I read "so little" I'll never get through get to the new stuff.

It’s actually because he was in a bad car accident (a hit and run with him as a pedestrian I think?). So it was more about him finishing the books before HE died.

[waverly]

I don't have lists. I feel like if I did then it would stress me out that I didn't accomplish them.

[jaycee]

Oct 12, 2023 20:36:52 GMT -5 meanie said:

How do you get your audio books?  I'd love to listen to as many as you, but I use the library's free app, Libby, and every single book that I want to listen to has a multiple month/week wait.  I'm waiting on probably a dozen audio books now.  A few are available now that are classics, but those aren't the ones I want. Do you have a paid service you use?

[Gato]

I absolutely have this problem. I’ve been getting the New Yorker and The Atlantic for years, and used to read all the issues pretty much cover to cover. That stopped when I had kids, and really stopped recently when I went back to work. Also there are always three times (now probably ten times) the amount of books that I want to read vs. what I actually have time to read.

I just have to triage. What is the article I can’t miss? What in the news should I really know? What are the twenty books this year that I really, really HAVE to read?

I also set aside Sunday morning for reading. Except tomorrow I have to drive someone to the airport 😣. But normally, I’m giving myself that little window to relax and soak in the words.

[tacokick]

Oct 14, 2023 15:40:05 GMT -5 jaycee said:

Oct 12, 2023 20:36:52 GMT -5 meanie said:

How do you get your audio books?  I'd love to listen to as many as you, but I use the library's free app, Libby, and every single book that I want to listen to has a multiple month/week wait.  I'm waiting on probably a dozen audio books now.  A few are available now that are classics, but those aren't the ones I want. Do you have a paid service you use?

Does your library system have Hoopla? They have audio books and I don’t think there are ever waits.

[Jalapeñomel]

Oct 14, 2023 15:40:05 GMT -5 jaycee said:

Oct 12, 2023 20:36:52 GMT -5 meanie said:

How do you get your audio books?  I'd love to listen to as many as you, but I use the library's free app, Libby, and every single book that I want to listen to has a multiple month/week wait.  I'm waiting on probably a dozen audio books now.  A few are available now that are classics, but those aren't the ones I want. Do you have a paid service you use?

I use Audible, and we get a free credit every month. But I do get quite a few through Libby with my library though.