Thoughts from a lonely office space.
It is a holiday week, so it isn’t surprising that I am the only one in the office today. To be fair, it is a small department and usually I’ve only got one coworker here with me, yet it is a welcome quiet.
Stolen focus
I began listening to “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari yesterday and while I don’t usually enjoy audiobooks, it’s nice to have something non-fiction to put on in lieu of a podcast or music if I want some background noise with a bit of substance. I did not expect it, but “Stolen Focus” has me thinking yet again about how outrageous it is that I know what is best for my attention span and creative output, yet, I so often ignore that in favour of some cheaper substitute activity like scrolling Twitter/X or going on a nonsensical Wikipedia rabbit hole.
How willingly I destroy my attention span and waste hours of my day, when it literally amounts to my well-being, creativity, and happiness hanging in the balance.
Reading on the decline
Hari cites study after study and notes that the number of men in America who read for pleasure has dropped by 40% in the past decade. 29% for women. The average time an American reads a book is down to 17 minutes a day, while average screentime sits at around 5.5 hours a day. Some hear this and will say that it is just technology becoming more prevalent in our lives and that this was always bound to happen. They may even think that it isn’t an alarming statistic.
As someone who didn’t really read books until 2020, I feel fortunate to have been added to that fold while the rest of my country seems to be exchanging novels for screens. It’s wholly anecdotcal, but my god, do I feel good when I am reading on a daily basis. And, not just reading, but really pursuing and deeply exploring classic novels; mining them for insight and eternal truths and wisdom. It startles me to think that I didn’t become a lover of reading until my 30s, but even more so to consider that there are some in more recent generations who may never cultivate an appreciation for literature at all.
They are coming into a world where it isn’t promoted as it once was; as a source of applicable timeless perspective and knowledge.
The classics
I have to wonder, what in our increasingly screen-centric society is replacing the time-honoured truths one gets from books like these?
Maybe this is simply me coming more fully into adulthood and turning into someone who sees how society is changing and fears for the future. I think not though. I am very open to change and can even embrace technology and the convenience it brings to our world, but I do think there is a line. Usually, doing the analogue thing, the slower, more focused thing, yields superior results. At base, I am unsettled by the decline in knowledge about classic literature and novels which have been extolled as timeless because there is nothing of this time and place which can adequately serve as a replacement.
In a noisy, busy, tiresome world, with its fast-paced spread of information (and disinformation), we need to preserve the classics and promote them as a source of ageless, applicable truths. Read current works, yes, be entertained by lighter works from any era…however, there is just no substitute for the literature that readers have turned to for centuries to make sense of the world.
Time does not weaken their impact; it strengthens it.
I am not here to tell you that if you aren’t reading the classics, you aren’t doing it right. Books are better than screens, full stop. The act of reading sharpens your imagination and gets your mind moving in ways a film or social media just can’t. I am here to advocate for adding them to your rotation, because I have seen how they have made me sharper of wit, more curious about the world and state of things, and how they have renewed my appreciation for the complexity that is mankind and simultaneously reinforced that we all have much more in common than we may think.
We need more curiosity, more focus, more appreciation for the timeless things. They make life more full and they connect us to eternal truths uncovered by the best minds of previous generations; ones which should not be forgotten, lest we repeat our mistakes again and again and again.
Books and focus
Books and focus also go hand in hand. I think that reading is one of the most effective and rewarding ways to combat the attention fatiguing world we inhabit. By putting down your phone, closing social media, opening a book and entering a flow state, you eventually feel that sense of joy and accomplishment that comes from engaging intellectually with the text. If we are to push back about the assault of advertising and distraction we face daily, we need to develop stronger focus muscles. Why not start working out with a book? Preferably a classic work of literature. Your gain will not only be a longer attention span, but all of the ageless, enduring understanding such a novel provides.