I agree. I think most writers read at much faster rates than the readings times suggested. I know I typically read an article marked 5 minutes in under four.

Writers usually type at lightning speed (I type upwards of 100 wpm) and read at least half again more words per minute than the times on the posts I've seen. I know my son reads more than twice as fast as me (he also types 200 wpm). Come to think on it, I don't know anyone who reads as slowly as Medium thinks we need. In fact, the only posts I've taken as long or longer than the time listed were the ones with embedded videos or if I tracked embedded links to sourcing.