I Learned to Read Again

Posted by georgex7 |3 hours ago |6 comments

pseudonymidy 5 minutes ago

Is there value in identifying the difference between reading a longer article like this one and an actual book? Reading the news from the AP/Reuters and a book on history?

I spend lots of time online, primarily on my phone, reading. I don’t watch videos and I don’t use social media aside from browsing the Reddit front page. I try to justify my online escapes because I’m reading a substack, a bit of news, an interesting HN link about someone’s project.

I know I’m fooling myself. Closing the door on the internet and opening a page on an ereader or a physical book is absolutely a different activity. While the content of the book is important (and hopefully well written and captivating!) I regard it now with the added benefit of exercising my attention span. One interesting book I read called Peak Mind makes the simple point that your life consists of what you pay attention to. Since then I’ve been trying (and failing, and trying) to be more conscious of where I spend my attention and how I can strengthen it against the well researched and incredibly effective distraction engines in my daily life.

sixtyj 15 minutes ago

Paul Graham recently: The people who still read won't just be better informed. They'll be (with a couple exceptions) the only ones who can think well. You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well.

https://x.com/paulg/status/2075980847228801132

nylonstrung 18 minutes ago

It does feel like reading books is one of the best activities for reconditioning your brain in the wake of screen/dopamine addiction

HumanEater 39 minutes ago[1 more]

Screen addiction is a thing for me, I'm addicted to my phone computer and tv and i don't know how to manage it.

I know its just an escape mean for me, a tool to not be there but it stop me from doing other more interesting stuff

teddyh 37 minutes ago

  s/^/How /