I love using Pocket, and it has tremendously improved my reading. Also interesting that you spoke about short attention spans at the end. It felt serendipitous, because I just wrote a (long!) piece arguing that the term is over-diagnosed. I think you might like it - https://www.sneakyartist.com/blog/short-attention-span.
What a lovely thought-ramble. So many things to consider, one of which is personal (I work as a copy editor, and the toil of paying attention to Every. Single. Word. And every. Single. Line for hours and hours makes me acutely aware of when I’m skimming online but also of the fact that nobody is reading my own writing online the way I would), and one of which is fluffily cultural (what about Ted Lasso’s determination to make his team think like a goldfish and forget their mistakes?!).
I've long known that the brain engages differently when we write vs type and since I work all day on a computer for my job I want to be as far away from it as possible on my off days. That said, I have always journaled by hand and I also do an opposite-hand writing practice as well. When I was in college I would copy my notes 3 times, written notes, written copies, as a study tool.
My brain gets bored reading on the internet, or evening a downloaded copy on a digital device. I SO much prefer a solid book I take and lounge with anywhere and that won't get unreadable in the sunlight either. Instapaper looks like an interesting tool to investigate though. Is it advertisement-free? Pocket doesn't appear to have an option to read online so how do you even know if it's some worth 'saving' to a device?
As you can see by the date, I routed to this newsletter from a recent one, clicking on the 'saccades' link. There must be more offline tools now, though I haven't investigated any.
I love using Pocket, and it has tremendously improved my reading. Also interesting that you spoke about short attention spans at the end. It felt serendipitous, because I just wrote a (long!) piece arguing that the term is over-diagnosed. I think you might like it - https://www.sneakyartist.com/blog/short-attention-span.
What a lovely thought-ramble. So many things to consider, one of which is personal (I work as a copy editor, and the toil of paying attention to Every. Single. Word. And every. Single. Line for hours and hours makes me acutely aware of when I’m skimming online but also of the fact that nobody is reading my own writing online the way I would), and one of which is fluffily cultural (what about Ted Lasso’s determination to make his team think like a goldfish and forget their mistakes?!).
I've long known that the brain engages differently when we write vs type and since I work all day on a computer for my job I want to be as far away from it as possible on my off days. That said, I have always journaled by hand and I also do an opposite-hand writing practice as well. When I was in college I would copy my notes 3 times, written notes, written copies, as a study tool.
My brain gets bored reading on the internet, or evening a downloaded copy on a digital device. I SO much prefer a solid book I take and lounge with anywhere and that won't get unreadable in the sunlight either. Instapaper looks like an interesting tool to investigate though. Is it advertisement-free? Pocket doesn't appear to have an option to read online so how do you even know if it's some worth 'saving' to a device?
As you can see by the date, I routed to this newsletter from a recent one, clicking on the 'saccades' link. There must be more offline tools now, though I haven't investigated any.