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If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
81–90 of 99 posts
Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Get an actual e-ink reader like Kobo or Kindle, they're SO much better for your eyes than phone screens. They also literally can't do anything but show you books, no notifications or anything. Just you and the book.
I thought it was the same thing until I tried it myself, especially in dark rooms. Having the light from my phone hurt my eyes after reading with an ereader. It’s a really huge difference
It's one of those things you can't understand from looking at pictures.
But something in your brain works differently when a display doesn't update (e-ink) or updates 24-120 times per second ("normal" display).
Combine that with e-ink lights being a subtle warm glow vs. phone/tablets having MAXIMUM BRIGHTNESS shining at your face...
Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm pretty happy to say I've read somewhere between 20-30 books this year*. Right now making my way through The Silmarillion finally. I also read the entire Aubrey-Maturin series, which was incredible, even if they were probably the hardest books I've ever read. (* Less happy to say it's mostly because I've been cripplingly depressed but hey, reading is reading)
Strange, I remember trying the Silmarillion a few times, many years ago, and finding it very hard reading. Whereas I re-read the Aubrey-Maturins every few years and find them easy, if not always light weight. I juts counted, 44 books so far this year, with lots of variation. Not I can not say much about quitting the social media, as I never really started. Just HN, and some youtube (always start on my subscription pa…
> Strange, I remember trying the Silmarillion a few times, many years ago, and finding it very hard reading. Whereas I re-read the Aubrey-Maturins every few years and find them easy, if not always light weight.
So the difference, to me anyway, is the heavy use of archaic and naval terms in the Aubrey-Maturin series. As I went through them they got easier, and I'd certainly find them more lightweight now, but still.
The Silmarillion is hard in a different way - sort of like George Martin and ASoIaF, it's rather long-winded and name-heavy, so it can be hard to follow, even for avid Tolkien fans.
Still, Tolkien has a style of writing that I just love. No other author I've read manages to capture the feeling that you're really reading a myth or a legend, and not "just" a story.
Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
My progression was something like: Video Games > Social Media > YouTube > TV > Reading I had to cut quite a few things out of my life before I defaulted to books, because all of the prior activities tapped into my brains inherent desire for stimulating, low effort consumption. Reading is quite often hard, boring, or difficult, but generally more rewarding in the end. I retain more useful information, explicitly becau…
What you read is also a big thing. There's no need to read that new pseudointellectual tome everyone is talking that could've been a blog post. It's a boring slog to read anyway. You can just grab a book where a space-wizard stops an orbital bombardment with his willpower[0]. Or one that's Top Gun but Grimdark WH40k[1]. Whatever is fun for you specifically. Books can be fun, they don't need to have any "value" past e…
> Whatever is fun for you specifically. Books can be fun, they don't need to have any "value" past entertainment.
That's a choice. I avoid books which are exclusively about entertainment. I always aim for value + entertainment.
Absolutely yes on the ebook reader. Also, get one that you can use without internet so they're not spying on your and deleting your books. I got a pocketbook. Small, cheap, doesn't need internet. And yes, _actual_ e-ink, otherwise you're just playing on an ipad. But one thing I love about my pocketbook is that it has a backlight which you can set it to very low, plus enable dark mode, and I can read it in complete darkness which with a physical book you can't.
Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
#85My "problem" is more with Youtube: lots of quality (to me) content that I find educational (history, science) and entertaining.
I also consume a lot of youtube content and after the first on-ramp became wary of just how much time I was spending with it.
Here's a solution that worked magic for me for controlling it: use adblock origin or another plugin to block the video thumbnails from loading on the landing page.
Ever since I've done this I've felt so much more in control of my youtube consumption.
I land on the homepage, I click on each individual subscription that has new content and decide whether I want to watch it now or later and typically that's it.
Sometimes I'll go, I wonder if someone has done an interesting piece on the latest F1 news and specifically search for that.
Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
#86My "problem" is more with Youtube: lots of quality (to me) content that I find educational (history, science) and entertaining.
The irony is if I quit social media, I start devouring youtube, including both high quality video essays and general video slop. If I quit youtube, I'm inclined to binge watch TV. I sometimes wonder if I need a more dramatic act of "unplugging." As writer Manu Joseph says on substack: "Yet, I do not believe it is true that attention spans have changed significantly over the decades. People’s minds have always wandere…
That rings true to me as an observation, but the trouble with the smartphones and social media is not just that we happily consume it and have always been susceptible to mindless distraction, it's that the devices and services are actively designed to pull you back in and for as long as possible as much as possible.
Books don't do that, TV does that poorly if it does try.
Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Phew. It's not every day that I see a genuinely new point. I hadn't considered that, thank you. Other things that don't end: some computer games (but some computer games do), tinkering with computers (but some thing you do with computers do have a definite end), tinkering with the physical world.
Re: Games I literally can't play stuff like Civilization and the like. There's no natural point to stop, so I just keep playing until the sun comes up. "One more turn" Young me was this close to getting fired due to Civ3 being released, I started dozing off at work and playing all evening and night :D In other games there's usually a save point, you hit a difficult boss, or the round ends in multiplayer games - those…
I remember buying The Sims when it came out originally. I started a gaming session that evening, and after a little while I noticed the sun coming in the window. I'd played all night without noticing. Since then, I've given that kind of open-ended game a wide berth. It's a bit disconcerting for a gaming session to achieve flow state.
Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
#88A couple of years ago I deleted reddit and other social media and news apps from my phone. The only remaining distractions it offers are email and books. It's been wonderful, I've been reading about 2 novels per month. Highly recommended.
Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
#89I definitely started reading more when I quit "algorithmic" social media a couple years ago. Still do. But I'm also mid-50s so I could just be reverting to my base. Maybe it's different for younger folks.
Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?
#90This 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 appar…
Yeah, here's another one: some books just aren't good; it's ok to put it down & give up.
Took me a few years to make a "Dropped" category on my reading list to put books noy worth finishing. Books are not sacred, it's OK to abandon some of them.