For years, I used my web browser to save articles I wanted to read later. It was dumb. I opened articles in new tabs, and made a mental reminder to read them later. But it rarely worked.

The web browser is not a good place to manage articles. There are too many distractions–Reddit, YouTube, Gmail. My machine’s resources get taxed the more tabs I have open. I could get careless and lose a tab with an accidental click. I tried using bookmarks, but it wasn’t the solution. They pile up faster than tabs and get easily cluttered in the bookmarks folder.

Read-it-later apps put my dumb process to shame. They have no distractions. Saving an article is quick and simple. I can organize and highlight articles to reference them later. They use a minimalist design to keep me focused.

Now I’m using Pocket as my read-it-later app. I enjoy it so much that I pay for their premium services. I can’t believe I learned of read-it-later apps a few months ago, but at least I can put my dumb process to rest.

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