On Reading Slower in a Fast Internet Age

Three months ago I deleted Twitter from my phone and started carrying a book everywhere.

This isn't a hot take. People have been saying "read more, scroll less" forever. But I wanted to actually write down what changed, because some of it surprised me.

The First Two Weeks Were Uncomfortable

My phone attention span is embarrassingly short. I'd pick up a book, read two paragraphs, and reflexively reach for my phone. Nothing to check. Put the phone down. Pick up book. Two paragraphs. Phone.

It took about two weeks before the compulsive reaching started to fade.

What Changed

After a month, I noticed I was thinking differently. Not faster or smarter — slower. I'd catch myself sitting with an idea instead of immediately searching for the next thing.

Conversations got better too. I had more to say, but also more patience to listen.

What I've Been Reading

The thing about reading books is they're long enough to actually develop an argument. I've gone through:

• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke — genuinely strange and wonderful
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — about game development but really about collaboration and grief
• A technical book on distributed systems that I won't pretend to have fully understood

Each one took something like focused attention that I'd let atrophy.

I'm Not Saying Delete Your Accounts

Social media isn't going anywhere, and I'm not anti-internet. I'm literally writing a blog.

But there's something to reclaiming even an hour a day for the kind of slow, sustained reading that books require. The internet will still be chaotic when you come back.