How To Improve Reading Habits Despite Social Media
By: Amri Deen
Tags: Habits, Reading, Social Media, Self Development, Improvement

Although the consumption of printed reading materials has declined, reading in the age of the internet and social media is still an important and required skill.

Why the need to read?

People who do not have the abilities to read, and write for that matter, have limited opportunities in life. As such, children are taught at a young age to read.

At its most basic, reading is taught and geared towards adapting to a literate society. Once the skill is learned, it becomes a stepping stone for new learnings. In these things, reading is important even for people who profess to not like reading.

The importance of reading

Aside from the primary importance of reading mentioned above, additional benefits can be derived from reading. Some of which are the following:

It keeps the mind sharp

Although technically the brain is an organ, it could be treated like a muscle. A very comprehensive muscle that requires regular workout to be in top shape. And one of the activities that will keep the mind in its best form is reading.

The correlation of the brain with age is inverse, that is, the brain functions decline as we advance in age.

It has been reported, however, that by exercising the mind the rate of the decline of brain functions as we get older gets much lower by 32 percent.

The same study also reported that continuous reading will help with better memory and increase people’s mental capabilities as well.

Helps with focus

Multitasking has become a common term nowadays. But multitasking has done more harm than good. This is because by doing so many things at the same time, your concentration will be all over the place. The end result is that you will get nothing done.

With reading, however, you are forced to sit down and focus your attention on the reading material. You will just be in the moment with what you are doing, which will lead to better understanding and eventual learning.

This mental focus developed through reading can also be used in the other aspects of your life. If you can concentrate on one thing at a time, your efficiency and productivity will certainly improve.

Improves self-discipline

Reading requires a person to stay still so that the eyes can focus on the text. Just by that, you are learning to discipline yourself to stay put for a period of time.

Especially now where the name of the game is being hyper and always doing something. It takes discipline to just sit down and read.

Developing self-discipline and then actually learning by just reading, now that is something!

Improves vocabulary and communication skills

With constant reading, you will be exposed to various words that may not be familiar to you. Looking up on these words and learning about their meaning will increase your vocabulary.

This new vocabulary can then be used in your daily communication at work or your business, or personal life.

Increased vocabulary will also be beneficial in written communications in that you will have a good command of the language and so will be able to form and write your thoughts a lot faster.

Helps a person be more empathetic

Empathy is feeling what another person is going through. And this is an important skill to learn because it will help you relate better with other people.

By reading, you will be able to learn how other people feel about certain situations they are going through. You will get to be in their shoes and experience their emotions. When presented with these situations, you will have more understanding and compassion for yourself or other people.

Develops imagination

With fiction books most especially, your mind will be able to conjure up images of the written words. You will develop a picture in your mind of the faces and places as described in the stories. And as in the previous benefit mentioned, you will be able to feel the emotions of the characters.

Having a great imagination can help in making a person more creative as well. A creative person will be better at self-expression and will have a different way of thinking.

Correspondingly, a different way of thinking will lead to an out-of-the-box way of solving a problem or improving a situation.

Relaxes a person

When you read something interesting, it becomes a pleasurable and relaxing activity.

When you are relaxed, you will be able to conserve energy. Which can be used to improve productivity at work or a more pleasant interaction with other people.

Self-development

A person’s self-development is his own. And reading is one way of improving yourself and increasing your advantage.

Is reading in this day and age still important?

With all the benefits mentioned, we now come to the question of whether reading is still important in this day and age. Interestingly, this has been a common question ever since the onslaught of social media.

And to answer the question, yes, reading is still important. It will still be beneficial for people to read in order to get information and be entertained.

It is especially more important for people to read nowadays to combat the negative effects of social media.

What is the effect of social media on reading?

The role of social media is primarily for online interaction. But there are also various contents being shared on there. These contents are presented as either images, videos, slides, or written forms such as blog posts.

And with this varied content, the attention of people has been divided.

Positive effect

Despite social media having a bad rep on reading, however, these platforms are here to stay. And there may be some positive effects to it that cannot be discounted.

One is the accessibility of information available for reading shared on social media.

With just a click of a button, you can have the information you are looking for. News articles, reviews, guides, or any other information are abundant on any platform.

Another positive effect of social media on reading may stem from curiosity. A person may be enticed to read more and research things that are on social media. Just because they trending.

Negative effect

The most obvious negative impact of social media is that it is a rabbit hole. It distracts people’s attention from reading.

People in this time of social media would rather check out the latest memes or browse what their online friends are up to. They would also spend time checking the latest on celebrities.

Worst still is to engage in arguments over a trivial post rather than sit down and read.

One other negative effect of social media on reading is comprehension. Because attention is drawn elsewhere, a person may not be able to fully understand or remember the topic of the reading material.

It is also worth mentioning that people now have a shorter attention span due to social media. The constant barrage of stimuli from various platforms keeps a person from focusing. This short attention span may have also been the reason for how TL;DR came to be, so people can read the summary and move on to another activity.

A decrease in productivity is also one problem with social media. Not only do people neglect reading, but most of their time is spent just browsing through Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube. Never mind checking the content, but just mindlessly browsing through these platforms.

Take the positive, counter the negative

So with all the various activities that can be done online, competing for people’s attention, it is no wonder that reading has been noted to be on the decline.

But since social media and the internet has become an integral part of our society, what we need to do then is to adapt. That is, to find a way to enjoy the benefits of social media but also able to limit its negative effects to improve our reading habits.

5 steps on how to improve reading habits

As the benefits of reading have been discussed, we now go to improving reading habits despite the presence of social media.

First, commit to improve on your reading

Before anything else, you must commit to improving your reading habits. Keep in mind all the benefits you will get from reading every time you are tempted to scroll on your social media accounts.

Second, schedule your reading

For those who are not into reading, you may want to start small. Schedule the smallest increment of time that you can allot.

It would also help to start reading on things that interest you. Or you may want to go with audiobooks. The end goal in reading is to learn something new, improve on knowledge, or get entertained. So if you get these by listening, it is still a good start.

Whatever your preference, just have a regular schedule for your reading. A few minutes to read a chapter or maybe even just a paragraph a day will do. Then improve your reading time from there.

Those who are already into reading will also benefit by having a regular reading schedule.

Third, limit your time on social media

A common reason for not being able to read is the lack of time. And this can be easily resolved by limiting your time on social media.

Put a cap on your browsing, say one hour per day. Or if not, reduce the time you usually spend on social media by at least an hour, then reduce it further in the following days.

You can also make use of technology to help you improve your reading habits. There are apps available for you to limit your time on social media, use it.

Another activity you may want to limit your time on is local TV or streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney plus, etc.

Time saved on these activities can then be allotted for reading.

Fourth, make a curated list of reading materials

Depending on your interests, you may want to include non-fiction reading materials for inspiration, additional knowledge, or skills improvement.

Then you may also want to add fiction books or materials for entertainment and variety.

Here, social media may help you in your list selection by seeking recommendations for a good read from family, friends, colleagues, or from the people you follow and admire.

Fifth, join reading groups

Check if there are local reading groups or book clubs in your area or you may also utilize social media groups.

Joining groups on Facebook, Instagram or other social networks that are aligned with your interest is one way of improving your reading habit.

Talking about things you just read with a like-minded group will also help in terms of knowledge retention.

So in conclusion, despite social media, it is still within the person to seek ways to improve their own reading habits.

The increasing presence of social media in our lives does not diminish the fact that reading, regular reading, has a tremendous effect on our self-development.

Please share your comments or suggestions to improve reading habits in the comments below.

Links:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/health-benefits-reading_n_4081258

https://n.neurology.org/content/81/4/314