Pocket, an app to save articles to read later, is introducing a sorting option for Android users in the coming weeks that could solve my paralysis when choosing something to read. The new sort by time to read feature noticed by The edge’with Dan Seifert, means items can be organized where they fit best, whether it’s the five minutes it takes for a microwave lunch or waiting 20 minutes for the late bus.
The feature appears both in the search section of the app and as a sort feature in your main list. A reader can sort their saved article search by length, choosing from Fast (less than five minutes), Medium (six to ten minutes), Long (eleven to 12 minutes), and Very Long (more than twenty one minutes). According to Pocket’s VP and General Manager Matt Koidin, your list of saved articles can also be organized by newest saved, oldest saved, longest read, and shortest read. If the feature proves popular, after Pocket “modernizes its iOS codebase,” Koidin says the company will bring these sorting options to iOS and the web as well.
In my pre-pandemic life, when I took the bus to work almost every day, I had constantly misjudged what I was getting into when I decided what to read. Pocket’s pre-existing time-to-read stamps for articles help, but when you have a wealth of writing you wanted to read at some point, things get complicated. Finding an article that fits a normal travel time can help people actually read what they care about.
I assumed reading time was personal, but Koidin says Pocket actually bases his estimates on an average reading speed of 220 words per minute. Now the hair on my neck goes up when I think of great writing as a read length first, rather than a holistic work of creative effort, but I think it’s easy to see how useful this could be (if not was currently chained to an iPhone).
Commuting may not be in the equation for everyone just yet, but for those who still regularly commute to work, the feature can help. In any case, I miss my reading time on the bus.