“First-world problem”

I like Oliver Burkeman’s definition on his essay “Treat your to-read pile like a river, not a bucket” for what he calls a first-world problem: people concerned about not being able to keep up with their ever growing reading/listening/watching backlog.

I agree with him. A lot of people get so nervous about information inflow, which ends up being a personal, tacit experience.

Third-world inhabitants face other pressures. The pressure for personal value outflow. If there is no tangible value coming out of your own work, guess what?, no reward, no money, no food on the table.

Information inflow is expendable. It is something out-of-this-world, unreal, for the illiterate.

Reading lists mean nothing.

Personal physical inventory makes all the difference. Goods to be sold, lent, given.