I actually use Google Reader a reasonable amount already, although I only usually mess around with it to adjust settings.
What I use it for is as a handy way of keeping up with podcast subscriptions. I walk a lot, and take trains a lot, and like comedy and science news a lot, so having something that can keep track of my podcasts and let my phone download new ones when they become available (and of course when I'm on wifi) is priceless.
Of course what this does mean is that when I'm listening to podcasts I'm listening to people talk out of their RSS.
That joke was dreadful. And worth it. So worth it.
The problem I have with RSS, though, is the problem I have with listservs: it's one more thing to check and one more thing to read. Theoretically, an rss feed should mean that everything is in one place. In practice, it means that every week or so, back when I used Google Reader for something other than podcasts, I would log on and see 50 posts from Michael Stephens at tametheweb, 50 things from the Library Journal, 50 updates from Lori Reed... you get the idea. And I'd feel guilty because I didn't have time to read everything. And I'd mark them all read and close Google Reader.
This wouldn't happen if I opened it up every morning to see what had been posted during the night, but who in the world has time to do that? I'm naturally forgetful. I'm supposed to take a blood pressure pill every morning, and I forget probably 10% of the time. And that's for my health.
The problem with RSS feeds is that as useful as they are they can feel like a chore. I have friends I have known for decades who have blogs that I don't read. Not because their input isn't valuable, but because I'm a poorly structured person who can't keep up.
What's ironic about this is that I'm on Twitter constantly. I always have time to read 140 characters. I suppose this is because I have the attention span of a- ooh, shiny thing.
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