I believe that reading is the most important leisure, hobby, and work that you can possibly do. So I spend a lot of time seeking out, consuming, and organizing information. And nearly all of the most important and interesting human thought ever recorded is available free, on the internet. When you think about it that way, reading is as close as we're ever going to get to time travel for a long, long time.
Like all new technologies, especially information technologies, the internet has left a lot of people confused, disoriented, and scared (1). But the internet is not inherently destructive or even distracting. It is just a tool, and can be used however you'd like (2).
I get email newsletters from some of most loved places on the internet (3.1-6). While email is an amazing form of communication, it's a poor format for long-form reading. Email newsletters are clunky--they collect, grow stagnant, and are an eyesore, even with a Gmail filter into a "To-Read" label. I've come to hate getting email newsletters, so I never look at them. I now get most of the stories I enjoy while I'm procrastinating on Facebook--which is disappointing on several levels: procrastinating is only so if it's unproductive, and Facebook is almost always unproductive. Facebook is also not a good way to discover the web, and impossible to remember what you actually want to read.
No one actually likes using Facebook, but most people do constantly. There is an obligation to between necessary information, event invites, and simple communication. There are ways to mitigate this such as self-control timers, and deleting the app from your phone. While these are effective and I recommend them, they only treat the symptoms, but no the cause of why the internet can make you unhappy.
People feel bad after they use Facebook, but they feel as if they have little other choice, because they want the news and the articles from their friends. So Facebook would be better if it was only fulfilled its good and simple functions--with all the news and fun articles ported elsewhere. I often imagine a perfect Facebook newsfeed, but only full of articles that I actually wanted to look at, and people I cared enough to hear about. If Facebook was divided like this, you'd likely spend less time on it and feel better when you do.
Limiting these distractions and unlocking the full potential of the internet is not a herculean task of willpower. It just takes a little foresight. So I unsubscribed and unliked all of these pages--and made a free Feedly account (4).
Feedly is a RSS reader, which is an impermanent, low-pressure stream of content like Facebook, but as personalizable and devoid of bullshit as an email newsletter (actually less advertising and housekeeping compared to email--and no duplicates) (5).
When I see something I like, I add it to Pocket. The web app is gorgeous and distraction free, and the mobile app is lightweight and works fantastic offline. Here I can read at my own pace and without 99+ tabs open and weighing on my mind and computer (6). Pocket also has impressive sharing features, with the ability to send right to someone else's Pocket queue--just send it to the account they signed up to Pocket with.
What you do isn't nearly as important as what you don't. It's as Chuck Palahniuk wrote in Fight Club, "If you don't know what you want, you end up with a lot you don't" (7). Reading is very much the same way. If you cut out the crap, then all that's left is good content.
Now, my Facebook is only people I want to hear from. My email is only things I need to act on (we can talk about Inbox zero another time). My Feedly is a fun way to discover new things, but waiting patiently in the background and not demanding my attention. And my Pocket app is a solid and productive way to learn--my go-to way to wait on the bus or relax before class.
It took some work and a lot of thought, but I've never been more pleased with technology. And never less afraid. The internet is just a tool, and you'd be foolish not to use it well. Or at the very least, think about what you really want from it, and bend it to your will, rather than vice versa. To stand up straight, not straightened (8). That is the only way we have ever gotten anywhere with the tools we've created.
References:
(1) The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood -- James Gleick
(2) The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains -- Nicholas Caar
(3.1) MIT Tech Review
(3.2) The Next Web
(3.3) Ryan Holiday
(3.4) Farnam Street
(3.5) Vice
(3.6) Dinosaur Comics!
(4) Feedly
(5) "Managing My Reading List with Feedly & Pocket" -- Marius Schulz
(6) Pocket (formerly Read it Later)
(7) Fight Club (Ch. 5) -- Chuck Palahniuk
(8) Meditations (III.5) -- Marcus Aurelius (trans. Hays)
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