[[!tag rant]]

I don't like the "infinite scroll" or "never-ending stream" type of communication application. I prefer to have a clear "inbox", where messages go, and from where I can remove them when I'm done with them. The reason I like inboxes is that they make it easier to keep track of things and harder to miss or forget about things. With the stream, I have to capture the message into my GTD system or I'll miss it. Obviously I can do that, and I do, but it's less convenient.

(Note that for the purposes of this rant, whether all your incoming messages go into one inbox or are automatically filtered into many is irrelevant.)

Another reason is that in the streaming model it's harder to look at only the messages that have arrived since I last looked, say overnight while I slept, or while I was busy doing other things. This makes it even easier to accidentally miss important things.

Examples of inboxes: email, SMS.

Examples of streams: Twitter, Mastodon, IRC, Matrix, Telegram, RSS feeds.

You may notice that all "modern" applications tend to be streams. In this, too, I feel like an old man shouting at clouds.