Pocket was the place where you saved articles you never read. The dopamine chute of social networks has killed it

I was an Pocket user. And like many others, I still did not read the articles that kept me. It was the condemnation of a service that opted for deferred and repossed reading of all kinds of articles – especially long – but found an apparently invincible nemesis: social networks.

Mozilla closes Pocket. The Mozilla organization has announced That closes the Pocket service. On July 8 the platform will stop offering articles and will enter “mode only export”: users can export their articles saved until October 8, 2025, at which time “user data will be deleted permanently.”

Reasons. According to those responsible, although Pocket has helped millions to save articles and discover stories that were worth reading, “the way people use the web has evolved, so we are channeling our resources to projects that best fit their navigation and online needs habits. “

A great service … Pocket was born in 2007 as Read It Later, a service that allowed to mark as favorite articles that you could read quietly when it came to you. The idea was gaining traction by focusing on extensive pieces of both journalism and creative writing. Mozilla He bought it In 2017 and made it one of the star services associated with its Firefox browser.

… that we did not use so much. Many users will coincide with me that Pocket was fantastic but we did not take advantage of it. I kept keeping articles regularly with the hope of reading them in my Kobo e-book reader (which had this function integrated), but rarely ended up doing so.

And on top we used a little bad. Pocket was so simple and comfortable to use that many ended up using it not only to keep promising – but not always wonderful – long texts (Longform), but all kinds of links with news or even tweets. And when you opened Pocket, two things used to happen. The first, the feeling of having another obligation before you, another list of tasks in the form of a list (endless) of articles to read.

The second, to throw yourself for the short items that you knew you were going to consume in a short time to be able to “erase” from the list. Check “Reading later” had become a “take it off later.” But it was still a fantastic service, and it has not been we who have killed it. The culprit is another.

Doomscrolling. Social networks They have stolen us Our capacity to concentrate. The dopamine chute that they offer us with the famous Doomscrolling has proven unstoppable. We love to displace the screen vertically on our mobile phones to see the following content, and that immediacy and instant gratification have ended up shaking our attention capacity.

Until always, Pocket 🙁

Slot machine. The algorithms that govern social networks They are inspired by the slots. Its objective is to generate addiction and have us glued to the platform on duty without leaving it. A study Of 2021, the diabolical simplicity of our way of dealing with these contents revealed precisely. The experiment was overwhelming:

1. A group of participants were given a single video and asked if they preferred to see another or perform a certain task. Another group were given five videos and asked them the same question. The second group was much more predisposed to watch more videos.
2. Then the two groups saw the same number of videos, but the first group saw more diverse videos and the other saw more homogeneous videos. The second group showed its predisposition to see more videos instead of moving on to another task.

AND ECO CHAMBERS. These results reflect our current reality. Social networks not only raise infinite content, but also do so Locking us increasingly in echo cameras with homogeneous content that reinforce our tastes and opinions. In Pocket we probably also built a large echo camera, true, but at least we did it, not an algorithm. The problem was to reserve 5, 10 or 15 minutes to read a long article is increasingly difficult before the avalanche of images, texts and especially short videos always suggestive, great and fun.

Google Reader moment. Pocket’s closure remembers to some extent that we live with Google Reader, feeds RSS reader that the searches giant killed because although we loved him it was probably not profitable. As in that case, Pocket was a fantastic product but also very niche. And even in that niche, underutilized.

Digital Diogenes. In fact, Pocket contributed to Our digital diogenes syndrome. It was the place where you saved, saved and saved articles that you never read. In that sense, it was less functional than Google Reader, that when you used you did, you took it to read those headlines of the news that were coming from the feed RSS. But that Save everything syndrome In order not to consume it or enjoy it, it occurs in many other scenarios, Like photos and videos of the mobile or in the video games that we download and to those who will never play. In fact it is not that we no longer play: is that We prefer to see others play.

Alternatives. Pocket’s death makes us look for inevitable alternatives to continue keeping articles that we may never read. Among them stands out Instapaperbut they are also Readwise, Wallabag, Rindropeither Mymind. For those who have a kobo there is also somebut not so direct. Curse.

Image | Mozilla

In Xataka | Internet, let me forget