When my reading app, Readwise, added an RSS subscription feature, it reminded me of those halcyon early days of internet when the cool kids gathered on Google Reader. We subscribed to feeds from indy blogs; we read posts, liked them, and shared them; zany comments on the shares were all the motivation we needed to keep going. Much later, Google Reader died. RIP. The indy blogs we read continue to exist mostly in Substack, as writing for the internet, for free, wasn't something that lasted for most writers. I still read the fellows from 37signals, although they don't really blog anymore. I found some new RSS feeds, though: people on the internet are still writing and I am still reading.
There's a difference between reading and online browsing. Find the tabs to make faster a long, boring DC workday was one of the most evocative sections of Zack Slingsby's first novel. But when you're browsing, the boss could always be around the corner—your at the ready to tab back to the email inbox, and the safety appearing to work. Reading, on the other hand, takes focused attention. I've always been a saver of online essays, long pieces of journalism, and other "oh I should read that sometime" things. Putting them into a place and then dedicating time to the reading has been my longest internet habit. It has outlived social media, mindless games, and the other fritterings away of time the internet has given me. It's also been my most consistent. Even podcasts, which I've listened to since 2004 or 5, have been always intermittent at best—who has the time for the hours of self-indulgent talk from the friendly hosts? Every time I unsubscribe from a podcast or remove an app from my phone, I rarely miss it. That is, except for reading.
I've been collecting things to read from all corners of the internet for more than twenty years. Since whenever I had an iPod Touch and its first screen of apps, my reading reading has been on the equivalent of a phone. While a little more curated than an algorithmic feed, Instpaper and Reader have been my form of infinite scroll. It's fun to take a few minutes and consider some essays, especially if they're well written, on a theme, and maybe comprising a future edition of my own email. It's in this context I consider all of the wisdom and warnings to put down your phone: do I really want to read less?
While interesting to consider, getting rid of my phone would make my life measurably worse. Not just in the lack of conveniences, but in a diminishing of my interior life. There's a time for open-minded pondering and a time for lack of devices (mine is usually Sundays). There's also a time to turn on some tunes and deeply read the things you've found (mine is usually weekday evenings on the train home). And there's a time to read missives sent by the people who kindly reply to this email. And, sure, I can do all of that on my work laptop, but for some reason I like to work on that machine and do my personal life on my personal device, which, for now, is a phone.
Enjoy the reading, whether on your phone or not, and enjoy the long weekend!
Pastor John Mark Comer has won a massive following by preaching about the ills of technology.
A Glimpse of Who I Am and How You Can Prioritize Reading, Writing, and Thinking in a Distracted Age
I firmly believe that our lives can be improved by reading and taking action on personal development books—and becoming Indistractable is the key to unlocking the wisdom within those books.