I find it ironic that Merlin Mann, the guy who became famous for his bite-sized tips on getting organized, has written a thought-provoking piece about how content grazing will not lead to developing any meaningful expertise in anything, but I think he is right on to point it out.
Google Reader is an awesome productivity waster for this very reason: it occupies the space between really sitting forward and engaging in thinking (while programming, writing, working on a project, etc.) and sitting back and watching TVâ a sort of half-engagement that feels more pure than other forms of entertainment but which has begun to feel to me like the intellectual equivalent of a bag of Cheetos.
As we trade reading for skimming and blogging for twittering, we might do well to think a little bit about what this might ultimately do to our ability to think clearly.