time spent offline

Every year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions hoping to spark positive changes in their lives. Reading is one of the most popular resolutions for many people, including myself, and for very good reasons: Reading puts our brain to work. It involves several brain functions, including visual and auditory processes, phonemic awareness, fluency and comprehension. Reading increases our attention spans, focus and concentration, and it stimulates our mental processes that help preserve our memory skills as we age.

For the past three years, I have participated in the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. I have not yet reached my goal, but the challenge has encouraged me to read more books than I would have read otherwise. I read 21 books in 2018, 37 books in 2019, and I’m finishing this year with 25 books. I hope to finally reach my goal of reading 52 books in 52 weeks in 2021. Austin Kleon’s post read a book instead has been one of my biggest inspirations to read more while curbing my digital addiction. Here’s the full post: Reading books makes me happy. Being on my phone makes me miserable. So, I made a wallpaper for my iPhone’s lock screen to remind me that I have a choice. You can download a copy for yourself right here. The wallpaper is an excellent reminder nudging you to read a book instead. 

Reading is an excellent alternative to mindless digital entertainment.

Often, we turn to our devices because the alternative sucks. The alternative is boredom. The alternative is emotional discomfort we seek to escape. However, we have a choice; we can choose to escape with a book instead. We can choose to pick a book as an alternative to mindlessly surfing the web whenever boredom strikes. In doing so, we will reap the benefits of reading. It is a lot more satisfying getting closer and closer to finishing a book than scrolling through time-wasting websites, then forgetting 99% of the information we just consumed anyway. Throughout the years, I have learned three practical tips that have made reading an immensely enjoyable leisure activity— quit reading books you don’t like, cut out distractions, and remove friction.

Here’s to 2021, a year dedicated to reading more.