In my lifetime, reading has hugely fallen out of favour. It has been caught in a pincer movement, on the one side by the increase in short form content and video content and on the other by increasing busyness and franticness to every day life and, crucially, the increase in easy options for how we spend our ‘free’ time. Reading, you could very easily argue, is a casualty of war in this internet and ‘always on’ age.
That said, it has also seen a resurgence with many promoting it’s benefits and pushing us to read more. Both in quantity and in depth. I am one of those advocates. So, in 2023 I invite you to pull up a chair, relax and make it your goal to read more. Here are 4 reasons why:
Focus is the skill we are all losing
The ability to concentrate on hard/complex things for long periods of time used to be a given but this is a skill we have lost. We are desperate for the TL:DR (Too long don’t read — short summary). We are desperate for the video to watch. Add to that, the rise in quick, cost free communication and easy access to anything we want on our smart phones, distraction is an ever present reality. All of this means our collective and individual attention span has reduced. Reading will build it back up again. Reading complex books that require focus and concentration will build it back up again. Read to train your focus.
Reading is still one of the best ways to learn and develop
I’m aware that different people learn in different ways. Some learn by doing, some are visual, some prefer to listen. But reading a good book is still a great way to learn. This is especially true as reading provides you the opportunity to change your pace as you go base on how complex or unfamiliar something is. It also allows you to go back over things to further commit them to memory. Plus, by making notes, or seeking to write a summary or a review or in some way share your findings with others, you can cover all the bases in learning styles. Lastly, our memory tends to work better with tangible things. This lends itself well to physical books but also works on an eReader. We often find it easier to remember where we were when we learned something, or the position on the page for example and this memory unlocks our memory of the information. This is hard to get from a video. Though a video I once watched on holiday stands out because I was in an unfamiliar kitchen doing a familiar task of emptying the dishwasher.
Reading provides opportunity for quite and calm
Our culture glories in busyness and being ‘always on the move’. Our minds are constantly being giving new input and there is always noise and distraction. Stress and anxiety levels are on the rise and it is this fast pace of life and never ending stimulus that is causing. The best way to read is somewhere quiet, or with a light hubbub of background noise. I’m going to be honest, I’m not a big fan of speed reading or skim reading. It has its place in study or research, but for our purposes here, I want us to get lost in what we are reading. This works best for fiction. It is stress relieving.
When it’s gone it’s gone.
I see more book publishers in the Christian world focussing their attention on short, accessible books that deal with whatever ‘hot topic’ is in vogue. Whilst these have their place, their increasing prevalence concerns me. Rather than being taught theology and doctrine and the whole counsel of God, we are focussing on specific issues of our day to day life. We are not being led to develop a Christian mind therefore, People aren’t investing in books of depth simply because people aren’t reading them. When they are gone, they will be gone. And we will be poorer for it.
