The author of Reading Cannot Be Replaced, Here’s Why gave words to the hollow feeling I have after sitting in front of a screen for too long:

Then, it occurred to me that the feeling wasn’t sadness per se, but a crash from being overstimulated.

A crash. Screens evoke the neurological equivalent of a sugar rush. Or at least it feels that way.

This reminded me that for a short period of time, I was so fed up with screens that I started printing articles in 8 point font. I would fold the paper up and carry it with me everywhere until I finished the article. While this felt like a stroke of genius when I dreamed it up, the habit fizzled out quickly. It turns out, 8 point font on creased printer paper makes a poor reading experience.

Which brought to mind another quote from the article, this one from Dr. Ruth Simmons:

“I know a lot of people today that like to do things on the fly”, she said, “you can’t read a book on the fly… Thank goodness.”

This was the root of my problem. I was trying to force reading into something I could do “on the fly”. But deep, meaningful reading doesn’t work that way. I found I made pretty much no meaningful progress if I didn’t have at least 5 minutes to read. It takes time to bask in the author’s worldview and allow their thesis permeate your mind. Even when I felt like I was making “progress” through the page, there was no chance I retained what I read by darting through it in short spurts.

I’m still working on finding the correct daily balance of screen time, but it feels like recently it has been too much. I’m adding more deep, focused reading time as an antidote to my sugar-rush addiction to screens. I’ll be shooting for at least 15 minutes each morning, but I hope to read more. I’m not sure 15 minutes will be enough, but I want to start small to give myself a good shot of keeping the habit, and then expanding it someday.

On a related note, my wife got me C.S. Lewis’s “The Space Trilogy” (“Out of the Silent Planet”, “Perelandra”, “That Hideous Strength”) and I’ve enjoyed getting started on that series! I loved reading Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” series. I find early sci-fi charming, particularly the way that authors imagined space travel before we had accomplished it. So I’m sure I will enjoy this series as well, since it was written in the 40s!