I originally wrote this article on Medium back in 2013. This was at a time when bookmarking services like Pocket and Instapaper were becoming popular. I realized that I was procrastinating by saving articles for later, and that I should focus on what matters today. Still, this post is as relevant today as it was back then. I’ve made some updates to reflect my current thoughts on bookmarking services.
Original article from 2013
There seems to be a rising awareness of information overload, but the connection with bookmarking services is still thinly discussed. Up until recently I was an avid user of bookmarking services, but trying to keep up with an endlessly growing list of articles felt like a job and was distracting me rather than helping me to get things done.
I personally find that these bookmarking services much rather encourage procrastination, than solve them. Whenever I bookmark something, I feel like it’s interesting enough to read, but not at this time.
What I learned is that when it’s not worth your time today, it likely won’t be tomorrow and chances are it never will. You should focus on what matters today, not what might matter tomorrow.
What’s my stance on bookmarking services today?
Do I still use bookmarking services? Yes, but I use them differently. I only bookmark things that I know I will need in the future, like a tutorial or a reference. I don’t use them as a way to hoard content anymore.
Is there still a procastination problem?
Bookmarking services have kind of lost their appeal due to the rise of social media and a faster pace of content consumption. People are more likely to either read an article right away or not at all. So in a way, the problem has solved itself.
However, I believe that a new generation of content hoarding and procastionation is starting to arise. To-do apps have exploded in popularity over the last 10 years, and it’s tempting to write down everything that comes to mind.
I’m trying to be more mindful of what I write down since I don’t want to end up with a list of things that I will never look at again. But to be honest, it’s still quite a challenge.
Conclusion
There might be an opportunity for an app that would limit the amount of to-do items that you can make in a given period, or based on a number of already completed tasks. I’d be the first to try it out. But until then, the same message still stands: “Focus on today”.