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If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

newyorker.com

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Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#11

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

To me, yes.

Well, I've never been on "social media", but e.g. at night before bed some times I scroll on HN for a long time before falling asleep (30min-1hr). If I commit myself not to, I read instead.

The thing we should be talking about is forms of entertainment, and social media is just one type of entertainment. We should be discussing pros and cons of different forms of entertainment. Instead the discussion is "social media bad", which is a great starting point, but has the problem that allows us to avoid having to talk about the underlying mechanisms.

For example, one of the people responding here says "if I don't go on social media I go on youtube instead." If you try and think past "social media bad", what is actually going on?

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#12

Post by lynx97 »

Clearly no, because both activities couldn't be more different. I dont sit down in the evening and spend 2 hour scrolling through social media. Why should I? I might scroll through my feed while waiting for my dentist appointment, because it is a nice way to pass the time. But reading a book takes time and attention. I do that after work, at home, with enough time at hand.

Who asks such twisted questions anyway?

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#13

Post by silon42 »

patates wrote: post #8

I quit social media many years ago and to answer the question: No, I just watch Youtube. If I could stop watching Youtube, I'm totally sure I'd finally be able to read books again /s The problem is the award delay. In Youtube, I get my "award" in 10 minutes max. Starting to enjoy a book requires 1-2 hours investment, and the award can be anything between 1 and 10 in a scale of 10 (while median being more like 7), and…

My rule for short videos is to only view the ones on my subscribed channels (from notifications where enabled) and never ever go to next/prev video.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#14

Post by plastic-enjoyer »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #7

Yes and no. I read a lot, but in "bursts." My iPad is full of books; many that I have read, many that I have yet to read. But I use most of my free time writing software. I also tend to do that in "bursts." Haven't looked at Facebook in many months. Never did Twitter/X. In fact, the only place I spend much time online, is ... here . Most of my karma is from comments, not submissions. So I guess I don't get out much.

> But I use most of my free time writing software. I also tend to do that in "bursts."

I feel like this is, at least for me, a time problem. If I write software, then I have to neglect reading books; if I read books, I have to neglect writing software. Doing both seems not possible for me, so I have to do this in bursts.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#15

Post by liampulles »

I embrace the extremes. I am naturally curious, and I will let myself go down rabbit holes of fascination. When I need to concentrate, I will go through a little ritual of setting do not disturb on things, closing non-work tabs and programs, putting "focus" music on, planning my little bit of work, and maybe doing a little mindfulness exercise. I find this gets me into flow for a bit, and I think finding one's own process for getting into flow is useful.

And I take holidays deliberately to "unplug" and read. I go somewhere quiet and scenic, no computer - just a book (or several). I do take a tablet, but its basically only got a book and comic/manga reading app on it.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#17

Post by dgb23 »

This might sound stupid or obvious to some, but I found a way to read books more frequently: Read multiple books at once.

For some reason, I read more often and am more motivated when I can switch between books. When I tried to focus on just one, I always got the feeling that I sort of have to read it and that turned me off.

Another issue is that I read very slowly and think a lot when reading books, but that's apparently just how my brain works.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#18

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

johnisgood wrote: post #10
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #7

Yes and no. I read a lot, but in "bursts." My iPad is full of books; many that I have read, many that I have yet to read. But I use most of my free time writing software. I also tend to do that in "bursts." Haven't looked at Facebook in many months. Never did Twitter/X. In fact, the only place I spend much time online, is ... here . Most of my karma is from comments, not submissions. So I guess I don't get out much.

Pretty much this. I literally don't out much [out of my house]. I would not, even if I had no MS and had no mobility issues. I am being here, cozy, writing software. When I am not writing software, I just watch a movie, and then I write software again, and the cycle repeats. It is bad for your health though, especially mine. We should at the very least do some exercises at home.

Sorry to hear about the MS.

Bad stuff, but at least writing software is something that you can do.

Each morning, I get up at 5, and walk 5K. That helps (but lots of people I know, do a lot more).

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#20

Post by phantasmish »

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #11

To me, yes. Well, I've never been on "social media", but e.g. at night before bed some times I scroll on HN for a long time before falling asleep (30min-1hr). If I commit myself not to, I read instead. The thing we should be talking about is forms of entertainment, and social media is just one type of entertainment. We should be discussing pros and cons of different forms of entertainment. Instead the discussion is "…

At one job where I was under-worked but had my back to a major walkway and to my manager’s glass-walled office I put Project Gutenberg txt files in a terminal and any time I might have looked at HN, I did that instead.

Three novels in three months.

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