In the last few weeks I've come to a nice equilibrium with my entertainment choices. We had already discovered podcasts of our favorite radio (mostly NPR) shows and last year added a digital video recorder (DVR) to the tv. Last month I finally sat down and learned how to use RSS feeds on the internet, a cool tool that keeps track of the websites you typically visit and let's you know when new material is posted.
This means that almost all of my media outlets are now set up for me to choose what I want, when I want. Life is good.
But I know that when Noli gets here my free time will be spent in other pursuits, namely spending time with her and Mon. And I know that I will want to spend more time with them and give up some of my time in other hobbies. Right now though, the question becomes, what to give up?
Even without kids, the danger of tivo (and podcasts, facebook, etc.) is that the backlog of options becomes a burden. You begin to feel like you have to watch/listen to/read all of this. We've done a good job of not falling into that trap with the dvr, but I've fallen to temptation with the podcasts and RSS feeds for my favorite reviews and blogs.
Would it be better to just take options off of the menus completely, become oblivious to what I'm missing, and nurture my familial relationships in peace? Or, as economic models typically assume, are more choices preferred to fewer? My backlog of podcasts and tv shows will just give me a larger selection of choices to choose from when I have "me" time, almost all of which I will surely enjoy, and I should just fight my completist tendencies as an exercise in character development?
These are the questions of the 21st century father-to-be.
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