Well it doesn't use much on the web, since stories aren't being cached for offline access. On mobile, you can set "download stories/images" to only work on wifi and not cellular, which should be a rather substantial effect.

Thanks! So on the website I've been using the "feed" layout and when I click on a site all the story titles and previews, or I guess depending on the feed the entire article, seem to be downloaded all at once. If I choose the "text" layout and click on a site then it seems like only the story titles are downloaded and the content of the story isn't downloaded until I click on the title. But is that what's really happening or is everything downloaded when I click on a site no matter what layout I've chosen? What I would like if to click on a site and see a list of story titles, but not actually download the story unless I selected the title. Is that possible? I'd like NewsBlur to have a 56K modem mode.