I love getting fresh news about topics of interest – journalism, local/other news, the media, various health topics and of course, AI.

So of course, I fall over and over for the heady ease of subscribing to all those free newsletters.

But then I find it feels like the email stack is sort of owning me, not the other way around!

So I unsubscribe to one or two, only to find two or three more free ones I just have to at least try out.

It reminds me of various other dilemmas of 21st-Century connected life: That I have an inbox zero addiction but hate to not post every worthy news release at work.

As for newsletters, I love reading the good ones, but even the ones I’ve found to be badly organized, I actually feel guilty unsubscribing to them!

So I have to “slam skim” (my term) the inbox during busy work weeks, check the headline and lead, etc. I have more time now, as I am home in a new (to me) role, helping care for my wonderful wife Deb, who is recovering from total knee replacement, but … the pile is just too tall.

It also reminds me of how if you give to one or two or five worthy charities, you hear from 10 or 20 more. (I can only imagine how many a Megabucks winner hears from!) I get why, I don’t blame them for reaching out.

But it seems that every time you show interest in any topic these days, my pal/beast Al Go Rhythm floods you with ads from YouTube to websites (yeah, I don’t usually say no to cookies, either!) and the same to your mailbox with more more more! So you barely dive into any subject before the rising tide makes you sick and tired of it!

I often refer to the various facets of info overload – and that includes tool overload, where there just isn’t enough time to try all of the interesting aspects of the flood of available tools that grows seemingly exponentially every day.

From the funding pleas of Substack newsletters to the upselling of just about everything these days, I imagine many people just close and lock their digital door and don’t sign up for anything any more.

The oh-so-connected world has its advantages, but it sure calls for self-control and uber-organizational skills I find myself in short supply of.

How about you?