Note: I had a number of ideas for this week’s post, most of which were cynical and ultimately boring. The American political process is a joke, lobbying should be outlawed, the world is going to end, blah, blah, blah, etc. There are plenty of smarter people who can tell you those things. Instead of doing that, I’m going to share a tool I use everyday. If you don’t like reading, you can skip this one.

I spend more time than most on my laptop, “surfing” the web. Believe it or not, most of the things I do are educational and informative. Yes, I do watch the occasional beer pong slam dunk video, but who doesn’t? In between incessant checking of Facebook and Twitter, I stumble across an article or piece of news that actually matters. The best articles are usually the ones that are too long to read while sitting in a lecture hall before class or during your lunch break. Most people want to read something that is interesting, but they glance over it and decide it’s too long or they don’t have enough time. If you have an iPhone, there is a solution! I’ve spent 30 dollars on the Slingplayer app which allows me to stream live TV, 1 dollar on Angry Birds which I’ve played for fifteen hours and counting, and a whole bunch of money on a slew of other useful apps. I’d give them all up if I could only have one, though. Instapaper.

Instapaper is very simple: when you’re on an article you’d like to read (or any web page), you simply press a bookmark and that article is automatically saved to your account. The next time you launch the app, that article will appear at the top of your list. In the words of Marco Arment, the creator of Instapaper: “Instapaper facilitates easy reading of long text content. We discover web content throughout the day, and sometimes, we don’t have time to read long articles right when we find them. Instapaper allows you to easily save them for later, when you do have time, so you don’t just forget about them or skim through them.” Instead of the ugly web page it was on, you’ll see the article sans ads and without the site’s menu or other distracting features; only the text. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best way to read. You can do this on your iPhone in the app or any web browser at instapaper.com. When you’re done, just archive the article and it goes away. If it was especially worthwhile, star it. You can see all of my “starred” articles here and even have the app automatically download articles your friends think are great.

This post sounds like a giant ad for Instapaper, and in a way it is. I’ve become very passionate about learning, and the easiest way to do so is by consuming positive things. I wouldn’t spend the time to write this or post it if I didn’t think it would be beneficial. Since May, I’ve been a heavy user of this app and have read much more than usual. I’ve gotten great joy out of reading 30,000 word articles that, had I simply not pressed the bookmark to save the article, would have never even attempted to read. I encourage anyone who likes reading or likes learning to try the free version of the app, and if you like it, buy the full version here. At times technology may seem unnecessary and cumbersome, but it’s things like this that should shine through as being wonderfully beneficial and positive.

P.S. If you do like long, in depth articles, follow @longreads on Twitter.