Blogiversary: How Information Consumption Habits Have Changed Over the Years (Part 9 of 10)
I’m continuing my coverage of my 20 year blogiversary. I asked readers how their information consumption practices had changed in the past 20 years. Some of their responses:
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“I’m definitely online more. I didn’t even have a cell phone 20 years ago, and definitely not a smart phone. I still use desktop more than mobile and don’t see that changing. I didn’t use much social media 20 years ago – and still only primarily use 1 (BlueSky) for personal. And really only LinkedIn for professional – and that’s barely. I follow (via social and blogs) more independent journalists than I did then – I may not have followed any journalists in 2004. I’m still trying to find the right balance of information vs sanity.”
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“As a writer and journalist it is so much easier to search online for information from all over the world and sift through it, instead of relying on libraries and snail mail.”
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“I download and backup and store more information than I know what to do with, as I think the Governments will remove the good stuff and I want to keep it around for me. Videos, Text, Audio…”
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“Very little. 90% of it comes from RSS and SSRN, and I try to keep it that way. I don’t read Twitter, and occasionally I find new articles posted on Facebook, but I rarely read them. Who has time?”
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“I used to read print copies of the USPQ cases and BNA publications. Then I went through a phase where I suppose I looked closely at all of the reports coming by email relating to the topics of interest to my practice. Now, for work, I mostly read your blog and the TTABlog (by John Welch) as I find both informative and also have a bit of sass/opinion to them that makes them really interesting and fun to read. I skim Law360 but sometimes that includes a bunch of junk that is worthy of NY Post Page 6 and I only pick out and read the full stories on the blurbs directly related to topics I follow. I read the NYT but have post-election focused on the puzzle page for my own mental health. I cancelled the Washington Post before the election but am not sure if that was the right thing to do. I love the Atlantic. I used to always read the New Yorker magazine (or at least flip through each week) but my son has taken the magazine initially when it comes in the mail and I don’t get it until later and now it’s piling up. I try not to get on Facebook/Instagram or other such sites in my downtime; I do gravitate towards Reddit from time to time where l like to find posts that confirm my opinions about entertainment content (e.g. a particular character in a series is really annoying or the plot took a nosedive). This is all probably TMI!”
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“The biggest change over the past few years has been that I trust online search engines less and less. I remember back in law school legal practice class, students were told not to use Google, not because it was inaccurate, but because you can find accurate answers way too quickly and easily. At the time, such teaching seemed bad/insincere, but in retrospect I’m glad we were given a chance to learn how to do research without overly relying on Google Search.”
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“Not too much, but since there is more and more info to read and digest one need to have trusted sources and yours is the one.”
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“I am much more likely to pay for subscriptions to gain access to and support sites I perceive as worthy and trustworthy.”
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“Creating an account is now an act of last resort for me. Like personal possessions, the more I can minimize my online footprint, the better for me. I was finally the recipient of a breach notice from a health insurance company used by a firm I no longer worked for and which my previous employer hadn’t used for several years. Frustratingly, my account (in a non-digital sense) had aged past their data retention period but they had failed to delete some volume of records related to me. Of course, the person on the phone couldn’t explain why, because the insurance company had contracted all the cleanup and comms work to some other firm with a call center. I’d meant to document and relay all this to my state AG, though I’m sure his office is busy with other, more political pursuits (which Todd Rokita has been somewhat infamous for).
I guess that whole anecdote leads me to see a parallel in personal life compared to professional: in IT security, there’s a concept of “assume breach” that we use to aid in analysis of how to protect information assets once someone does intrude on a network. For the average consumer, we all effectively must now “assume breach,” that a credit bureau or insurer is going to fail to protect our information, and that we have little recourse once it happens in the sense that there’s no preventing the sale and exploit of our information once a breach has occurred. Following advice from Brian Krebs (a tech journalist, though I no longer read his blog after his refusal to issue a retraction after misattributing a hack to a couple individuals), I’ve learned to “stake my claim” to various Web properties like credit bureau sites and state/federal IRS to limit abuse of my personal identifiers when they are inevitably compromised.
In the past 20 years, but more so recently, it’s become evident that we need personal, mental “circuit breakers” in our information consumption to help break loops so we can stop and consider whether this is a good use of my time, how is this information affecting me, are there any warning signs in what I’ve consumed that might affect the trustworthiness or credibility of the source/authors.”
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My thoughts about how I have changed my information consumption practices over the decades.
First, I used to read a dead-trees printed general circulation newspaper every day. In 2005, that would have been the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. It was a key morning ritual: breakfast and the paper.
When we moved to California, we subscribed to the San Jose Mercury-News print edition. I don’t remember when we abandoned that subscription…maybe 2015? The Mercury-News adopted terrible billing practices where they auto-renewed subscriptions at massively inflated prices (I think it was $800/yr?). They also played enshittification games. The paper added “bonus” materials that I didn’t ask for or want, and then they unilaterally credited our annual fee for their self-determined cost of the unrequested supplements. We wouldn’t notice the extra charges because the paper silently shortened our subscription term. It was ridiculous and predatory. The cost-benefit eventually made no sense as the paper kept shrinking and increasingly just reprinted syndication stories I had already seen online. I do miss my ritual of reading the dead-trees paper in the morning, but it was resource-wasteful and the subscription options today aren’t credible.
[Note: through the university, I have digital subscriptions to the Mercury-News, the NY Times, and the Wall Street Journal. I also use CNN as a primary news source.]
Second, I used to subscribe to many dead-trees printed magazines. I had some subscriptions delivered to my home. For many other magazines, the school library would circulate the table of contents or full issue for my perusal. These subscriptions were an essential part of my knowledgebase, and I custom-crafted a portfolio of information resources that gave me a knowledge edge over my “competition.” I have no remaining magazine subscriptions, though I still get printed magazines from various membership groups (but those magazines have shrunk dramatically over the years).
Third, I used to rely heavily on various email lists for discovering news items and grokking the meaning of those developments. I am still on some email lists (such as IPProfs and CyberProfs), but their utility as an information resource has declined sharply. I delete most email list postings unread, and I don’t invest much energy in initiating discussions at those groups (unlike the 1990s, when I was quite active–of course, that was pre-blog).
Fourth, I started using RSS seriously around the time the blog launched. I still love RSS, and I’m still disappointed it never became a defining information delivery vehicle of the Internet. RSS remains a key part of my “secret sauce” as a blogger. It lets me consume a broader and more diverse portfolio of sources than I would without it, and I can spot news items that get overlooked by others. I keep evangelizing RSS to my GenZ students because it’s actually the information tool they always wanted. The students want to keep up-to-date, but only from the sources they care about, and without the algorithmic sorting and prioritization of social media. HELLO, THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT RSS DOES! Google Reader was my cherished RSS reader. After its demise, I switched to Feedly, and the Feedly tab is permanently open in my browser.
Fifth, since 2005, social media has waxed and waned in my information diet. I used Twitter and Facebook extensively over the years. In its halcyon days, Twitter became a primary information source. I read tweets in reverse chronological order (not using the algorithm), so I only saw the posts I wanted to see. It has been heartbreaking to witness Twitter’s demise, and I haven’t been able to fully backfill it. Facebook has always been a mixed bag for me, but it’s now in my social media junkheap alongside Twitter.
So, at this very moment, my primary digital information sources are:
- Email. I tell everyone: email is always the best way to reach me. I receive many email list posts, email newsletters, and email alerts.
- RSS. I have about 130 subscriptions in Feedly, including the San Jose Mercury-News and several other general newspapers.
- Bluesky is my primary social media, especially for getting a news zeitgeist. I also have LinkedIn, Facebook, and Mastodon bookmarked. I visit LinkedIn a few times a day and Facebook/Mastodon about 1x/day.
- CNN is my primary news resources that I affirmatively visit. I typically check CNN once a day.
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Coverage of the 20 year blogiversary:
Part 1: Celebrating the Blog’s 20th Blogiversary
Part 2: How Has the Blog Changed Over the Past 20 Years?
Part 3: Who Reads the Blog, and Why?
Part 4: Readers’ Favorite Topics, Posts, and Memes
Part 5: How the Blog Helps Readers
Part 6: Jess Miers Reflects on the Blogiversary
Part 7: Ethan Ackerman Reflects on the Blogiversary
Part 8: Guest Bloggers of the Technology & Marketing Law Blog
Part 9: How Information Consumption Habits Have Changed Over the Years
Part 10: What Will This Blog Look Like in 10 Years?
Coverage of the 10 year blogiversary:
Part 1: Happy 10th Blogiversary!
Part 2: The Blog’s Impact
Part 3: The Blogosphere’s Evolution
Part 4: Changes in Internet and IP Law
Bonus: A Video Interview About the Blog