Are we losing the ability to read books?

My focus and attention on reading has gone AWOL!

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

As a child, I was avid reader. I used to spend whole days at the weekend in my bedroom reading. I would read under the covers at night with my torch and I devoured Sweet Valley books with the same voraciousness that today I would a gripping Netflix series. But something has changed and I've been feeling increasingly uncomfortable about it. 

These days, I get a few chapters into a book and I’m either bored or I have lost my appetite to read it and so look for another one. I can’t tell you how many books on my shelf have got a bookmark in a quarter of the way through, but more than a few. My CV claims that I love reading (practically a must when you work in publishing) - but I don't know how true it is anymore. What’s going on? Do I not like reading anymore? Or is it, as I suspect is the case, a concentration issue? I’m keen to dig into this and see if anyone else is feeling the same. 

I expect that one of the big reasons for this decrease in my reading is technology, specifically streaming and social media. It’s so much easier to watch something on TV or pass time by scrolling on our devices. It’s less satisfying, maybe, but the lure of our devices and platforms is too much for most of us to resist. They have literally been designed that way (I would recommend watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix on this very topic - you know, if you’re not reading). 

Last Saturday I was watching Strictly Come Dancing on TV but I was also simultaneously scrolling Instagram as well as reading the Guardian live blog on the dances. Sometimes I also try to do some physio stretches (because it’s such a long show!), but this all means I am not focused on one single thing. My brain is grasping at four different tasks. The effects of this split focus can be felt permeating into the rest of my life too - forgetting what I went into the kitchen for or picking up my phone and staring at it to remember why I picked it up in the first place.

And so it is that when I sit down to read a book, I can’t go more than ten minutes before I feel a pull to do something else at the same time, usually involving my phone. I don’t have any notifications on my phone apart from phone calls so it’s not like I’m obsessed with checking for new messages or DMs. I don’t have email or Facebook on my phone and I always use the downtime mode after 8pm. And yet, I still lose my focus and reach for the phone when my intention was to read a book. (Also, full disclosure that whilst writing this blog I checked BBC news, Facebook, and WhatsApp - so it’s not just reading that is affected by this divided focus!).

Perhaps consuming something visual seems like an ‘easier’ activity for our scattered minds. With books we have to interpret the text and form a picture for ourselves. Reading an entire book is a significant time investment too - a film can be done and over in two hours whereas reading a novel can take a whole month. In this age of haste, who has time to wait a month to find out what happens?! 

This leads me to think about instant versus delayed gratification. With social media, streaming, and even online shopping, we expect a reward immediately. We post on social media, we want some likes on it. We place an Amazon order, it arrives tomorrow. There is no waiting or delaying the gratification for our actions. With reading, it’s a slower burn and the rewards of finishing a story lie much more in the future. We’re not used to such a delayed reward for our efforts - it makes us uncomfortable and impatient to get there quicker.

We also quite literally don’t have the time to read anymore. By the time we have been to work, come home, done some exercise, cooked, chatted to our family, it’s practically bedtime. I do read in bed every night but it’s usually two pages at most and I’m asleep. The next night I then can’t remember what I’ve read and blame the book for being ‘slow to get into’. No wonder if I only read a page a night! 

One place and time I am ‘good’ at reading books, and I expect you’re the same, is on holiday. I have no problems spending all day reading and wanting to pick up the book at any opportunity. There is no work, no chores, sometimes no news if we’re abroad and switch off from the TV - it’s all a lot easier to focus on something like reading. In our daily life reading can feel like an indulgence but on holiday, we’re there for exactly that. At home, the productive jobs feel much more important than resting or nourishing the mind with a good book. But what if we allowed ourselves short windows of that indulgence? I feel like that can only good for my mental health, if only I could get there.

So what do we do to reclaim reading?

• Putting barriers like I mentioned earlier in place with your devices is a really big one but it clearly doesn’t work 100% in my case! Leaving my phone in another room whilst reading might be a better strategy. 

• I thought about having some reading time in the morning before work instead of the mindless scroll - I sometimes miss having a public transport commute for this time. I have started to experiment with audio books so at least I am consuming a book whilst out for a walk or cooking dinner.

• I have also joined a book club in my new office which will force me to spend time reading. Working in publishing brings with it the huge bonus of discounted books and hearing about new authors so my new company is great for that. (Although far I have amassed books and not read any of them!)

• I had tried motivation tricks like Goodreads challenges but then I just feel bad that I have fallen behind. 

I really want to focus on this and bring back more reading into my life. I feel sad for the bookworm child version of me who spent so much time reading undistracted. I think stories can be amazing for our mental health and I love being immersed in a book that you actively look forward to picking up each day. It’s such a cosy winter way to pass time and feels like an antidote to the immediacy and urgency of so much of life today.

Please do share what works for you in the comments - I would really love to hear your thoughts and strategies!