(Image from PSFK.)
Back in March, PSFK covered Instapaper, a free bookmarking app that allows you to turn overwhelming RSS/Twitter information into a manageable, streamlined chunk of long-form content. Just bookmark a page as "Read Later" (a folder in my own Bookmarks tab that is stuffed full of things I intend to read...someday). Once saved, articles are stripped of their design and presented in plain text, eliminating distractions and enabling "offline" reading via phone, tablet or (gasp) paper.
This results in a couple of things. First, it provides one with a gloriously ad-free experience. In a world chocked (choked?) full of advertising, ad-freeness has become a premium. One look at the proliferation of "Plus" services - Hulu Plus, Pandora One, TiVo in its purest form - that allow us to sideline ads for a fee.
Secondly, and more profoundly, Instapaper encourages what they call "deep reading." It lets us consume content in an offline setting - say, curled up on the sofa with an iPad - as opposed to at our desks in front of a computer. It likens our intake of online content with sit-down, focused reading once enjoyed only with books, and takes us away from RSS skimming.
The idea that tech can bring us back to deep reading is one part counterintuitive, and two parts wonderful.
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