A bad habit has been sneaking up on me lately. I have noticed that, while reading, I have been checking my phone every page or so. Sometimes I’ll check it after each paragraph.
That’s a bad habit that didn’t haunt me for a long time. Especially during the dark days of my post-concussion syndrome, when I had trouble reading more than a few pages at a time, I did not check my phone while reading. It sat there unobtrusively, unless I felt the need to look up a word, reference, or concept and then return directly to my book. Oh, my reading time was so precious in those days. When I was able to read, I enthusiastically and diligently read!
Nowadays, fortunately and thanks be, I can read pretty much as long as I want to. It’s a blessing. But now that I seldom experience constraints on my reading, I am starting to take it for granted. The phone beckons.
One day, I accidently left my phone in the other room as I started to read. When I reached beside myself to check it, it wasn’t in its usual spot. Ah! And I was simultaneously too lazy to go get it, and cognizant that maybe I shouldn’t go get it, anyway. My emails, texts, and other notifications could wait.
When I decided to read again later that day, I purposely left my phone in the other room.
I got a lot of reading done that day.
I’d like to get back to reading with my phone beside me, in case I need to look something up that pertains to my reading. But right now I can’t handle that.
So, banishment. Until the bad habit recedes. Then, cautious reintroduction.
What is your relationship with your phone like?
Hey Liza,
Have you ever thought about keeping a dictionary handy, this way you can stay off the phone and still look things up. I am a big reader, too, and before the digital age and internet I’d have a dictionary on hand so when that unfamiliar word came along I’d just look it up.
Take care,
Linda
Hi Linda, that’s a good idea, and I used to always have a dictionary by my side also. But nowadays I find that it’s not often that I’m looking up a word; more often I’m looking up a concept, and for that I would need an encyclopedia set by my side, lol. Or better yet, the Internet.
It’s interesting because until this popped up in my email this morning, I didn’t realize I was doing that also. My phone won’t have even buzzed but I feel this impulsive need to look at it. I’m definitely going to be working on ways to reduce my phone screen time and reconnect with myself and my reading. I don’t want to wither my life away scrolling.
Our phones are so seductive, yes.