Ten years ago, I was reading one book per week. I had an account on LibraryThing, a site I recommend, and loved spending time with a book in my hands at home, in the library, on the train, and everywhere.
This year, I read five books.
I blame my phone and social media first, which is to say I blame myself — obviously.
Waiting for the train, I don’t open my backpack to get my book anymore — I pull out my phone from my pocket instead.
Overall, I spend the same amount of time reading on Medium, Twitter, Substack, and blogs on WordPress as I did reading books ten years ago.
But I’m not satisfied with that time.
Twitter is ridiculously short, and it’s less and less about text anyway. There are some interesting threads, but it barely ever counted as reading, if I want to be honest. Blogs on WordPress are mostly forgotten as soon as I finish reading them. Medium is a mixed bag. Substack is somehow reliably better, but they introduced Notes recently, which is close to Twitter.
Overall, I think I’m lying to myself. Spending time on these apps isn’t really reading. It’s something else, closer to mindless entertainment and further from the inner journey that books take you on.
Maybe I’m tired of the short form and need to return to the long form. It could be the same thing that happened in reverse when I switched from books to social media.
But at that point, I find these apps manipulative. They all have mechanics encouraging me to spend more time on my phone. And it’s at the cost of reading books (and other things).
Shortform has its strengths. I won’t deny that and don’t want to stop reading it altogether. But I’d like to find a more balanced state and decided to put more weight on books in 2024.
Many people talk about the short-form content of social media being detrimental to our attention spans, and I’m sure I suffer from this.
I hope books will help me think longer term and more strategically. Books can expand our horizons and show us new corners of the world. Short form rather confirms what we already see.
My goal is to read at least 12 books in the next 12 months. Sounds achievable enough. I’ll write reviews to hold myself accountable.
If you have recommendations, I’m interested (obviously).
What’s the best book you read this year?