I only consume Hacker News via a summarizing service which gives only "top" Hacker News links. I skim my FriendFeed when I don't have time to read in depth, and don't have a problem _not_ clicking on things. I keep my FriendFeed relatively spartan; if a blog, feed, or tweetstream doesn't provide at least 50% interesting posts, I don't follow it. HN is the only linkroll / news site I follow. At the day job, I set my email client to download new mail only once every hour, so the "you've got mail" systray icon won't distract me too often. If it's important enough, someone will show up in person to ask whether I received the email they sent. Only a small set of people ever phone me with any regularity, and I like it that way.