Up until March 8, 2024, I have only read maybe three books cover-to-cover. Two of those books are self-help books, and I’m not counting the timeless childhood picture books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Goodnight Moon.
Why? I could easily blame it on social media shortening my attention span. The short, video-based format of the TikTok encourages users to consume content in small bites, which train the brain to expect and prefer shorter bursts of simulation. This can make it more difficult for those who use TikTok to focus on tasks that require sustained attention, including reading, classwork, or homework. It’s overpowering; the desire to drop whatever you’re working on to check Instagram, Snapchat, or any social media platform just for a second. Half an hour and million reels later, you’ve been sucked down another digital rabbit hole.
Maybe it’s not the social media. Maybe it is because I prefer the movies over the books. Watching movies is a passive activity. You sit there and watch; scenes and characters are fed to you; you do not engage your imagination because everything is there on a plate. The viewer is fully immersed in a visual experience of sound and color, which books don’t offer.
Or, maybe I straight up do not have the time because of school. In the midst of the endless cycle of homework, stress, midterms, breakdowns, and finals, reading for pleasure is not the first thing on my to-do list. Additionally, I have readings assigned for other classes that more reading, even if it is for my own enjoyment, is not what I prefer to do.
After almost three years, my roommate somehow broke through and convinced me to sit down and read Happy Place by Emily Henry. I was swayed not only by the fact I stare at my laptop burning my eyeballs for sometimes eight hours-a-day, but because I had the brilliant idea to gift an annotated book to one of my best friends. For someone who has not read a full book since sixth grade, this was a daunting task but I had lots of motivation.
When I was reading Happy Place, not only did I realize it was recharging, I began comparing aspects of the book to my own personal experiences which ultimately sent me into a crisis. Nevertheless, it made me have the urge to read more because I used it as an escape from the reality of schoolwork, projects, and stress.
Believe me, I am the last person on earth to read a book and my roommate will be the first to second this. As a student-athlete, engineering major, and overly-involved individual, I still found the time to sit down and read which was never on my bingo card for this semester. Currently, I am reading One Day by David Nicholls and it is on its way to becoming my favorite book and outdoing The Very Hungry Caterpillar the more and more I read it.