Do you feel like your online life is lacking substance? Find longer, substantial things to read from around the web. You just need to know where to look.

Reading, at its best, should be fulfilling. The age of Twitter, cable news and paragraph-long blog posts can leave you feeling intellectually unsatisfied. There are only so many sound-bite driven tidbits you can read or watch in a day. Sometimes you need to immerse yourself completely into a particular story; longer articles allow you to do this. Some people work around this by finding particular journalistic sources and sticking to them, such as the New York Times (or, in the age of the paywall, some alternatives to the New York Times).

If you'd prefer to pull such stories from a variety of sources however, you're also in luck. There are services out there dedicated to providing you with just that, and they index articles from a variety of sources on a variety of subjects.

Long Reads

The name is appropriate enough, right? Longreads is a database of longer articles from the around the web. You can search for articles on any subject:

long articles to read

This is perfect if there's a topic you're specifically interested in, or if you're looking for context regarding a recent story in the news. With articles from a variety of reputable sources you can look past the soundbites and into the details for a particular story.

Don't have anything specific in mind? You can simply browse the top articles of the day. The topics vary a great deal, but I've always been able to find something fascinating to read using this tool.

reading long articles

Once you find something you like you can read it now or click the "Read it Later" button. This button will send your content to Instapaper so you can read it later.

Instapaper's Browse Page

Speaking of Instapaper, you can also find longer articles worth reading on their browse page. Here you'll see selections picked by the Instapaper team, as well as some of the most-read items on the service.

reading long articles

I've found a lot of great things here, so take your time and browse. Articles range in terms of interest a great deal, which is perfect if you want to learn something new.

As with Long Reads you'll find a "Read Later" button. It shouldn't surprise you to learn that this will send your article to Instapaper!

Twitter

Surprised to find Twitter in this list? That makes sense: the social network built its reputation on limiting its users to 140 characters or less. That doesn't mean people don't link to longer content there, however.

long articles to read

Particularly helpful is the #longreads hashtag. People around the web use this to point out articles of substance, and Longreads (described above) even uses this hashtag to find content for its database.

Conclusion

I like to read longer articles, and between these three tools, I am never found wanting for material. I'm sure there are other places to find longer articles, though. Do you guys have any suggestions? Leave them in the comments below.