911. Socialite

One of the reasons I haven't written much these past few weeks is, quite simply, social media overload. It had begun to feel like a big anvil hanging over my head. It takes an inordinate amount of time and energy to read all those blogs, Tweets, Facebook status reports, and constant musings of the interesting people on the bulletin board where I've been a member since the beginning of time—not to mention adding some of my own deathless prose to the mix. Oh, and in the middle of it all, earning a living and interacting with people in the actual flesh. (And having time left over to learn to chant some Torah, as well.) But I'm not one of those who can walk away from the noise and become a modified Luddite; it's all much too interesting and, besides, my job depends on knowing about this alternate dimension we now must inhabit.

So I'm trying a different solution: Socialite, a Mac-native (hurrah!) application that consolidates my Twitter, Facebook, and Google Reader feeds into on small, elegant interface. (Goodbye, Bloglines; you were great all these years, but Socialite doesn't support you.) I've read warnings about its tendency to crash and hog memory, but so far it's been working just great. I know it doesn't take much time to open a few different sites, but something about having every single word gathered in one place makes the whole experience much less daunting, and faster.

Who knows, maybe I'll change my song after living with Socialite for a few more weeks. But for now—well, I'm here, and and glad to be writing and reading.