I'm sorry, I don't get it. Could you have just switched to reader mode? Did you try any sort of control group, eg reading some articles in print magazines or a book unrelated to your work activity?

It's not that I don't agree with you about the low quality of web reading experiences, and that many articles themselves are low quality bait, designed to tease, rather than inform. I resnt the time wasted on checking out articles, skimming them, and realizing they're crap, and am equally annoyed by the distractions inflicted on readers attempting to read quality long form articles.

But unlike you, I find it relatively easy to parse an article, decide quickly whether it's worth reading or not, and allocate cognitive capacity (if it's complex) or engage reader view it looks to be simple but I want to zip through it quickly (eg articles that are a straightforward list of facts).

I'm all for it if this tool is helpful to people; I just wonder if it's solving the real problem.

Great question, and I appreciate your feedback.

On reader mode, Yes, I tried it. Reader mode is great for stripping visual noise, but it didn't solve my core problem. When a long article is visible all at once, the scrollbar still whispers "this much left to go", and my brain starts looking for an escape hatch. What I needed was seeing only one thought at a time(an intentional constraint).

On control groups, Fair point, I didn't run formal tests. But I could still read physical books. I just did it less and less, because my web reading habits were eroding my overall attention span. This is a personal story, not a scientific claim.

On you not needing this, I'm genuinely glad for you! Seriously. The ability to quickly triage an article and allocate the right cognitive effort. that's a skill I lost. Not everyone has the same problem. Some people need patches to quit smoking, others just put them down. Both are valid.

On "solving the real problem", Maybe it doesn't! The real problem might be the attention economy, platform incentives, or my own habits. Parsely is a symptom treatment(a bandage). But for me, that bandage let the wound heal. Sometimes that's enough. This isn't a universal solution. It's for people like me, people who know how to read but somehow lost the ability to do it.