Across our country, reading for pleasure has declined by 40% over 20 years, according to the journal iScience. I consider that unfortunate. Why and how should we improve?
Beginning
For most of us, reading began with us sitting on the lap of a parent or guardian while they read a children’s book to us. Each page turn revealed new pictures, plus some funny black squiggles we didn’t understand. The adult’s voice took us to another world, where animals talked, or children went on adventures, or other crazy and fascinating things happened. We associated reading with fun. Once we learned the meaning of the squiggles, our world opened up and we read with abandon.
Decline and Ending
In middle school and high school, teachers assigned books to read, boring ones they said were good for us. Reading became a chore, drudgery, something to slog through so we could dash off the required report.
As an adult, no longer in school, a part of us recalled the fun of reading, especially fiction. We wanted to resume the habit. But life crowded in. Work, commuting, appointments, and obligations left no time for fiction. Reading to children didn’t count, since we did that for their enjoyment, not ours. We felt a nagging guilt about it, but where were we supposed to find the time?
Advantages
According to this article by Adithi Ramakrishnan, studies show reading for pleasure reduces stress, increases creativity, boosts empathy, improves your vocabulary, and aids sleep.
Fiction as Metaphor
We’re pre-wired for stories. As individuals with unlinked brains, we find ourselves in a confusing world, a world of problems. We seek coping strategies, solutions to the problems that will lead to favorable ends. Not coincidentally, fiction provides make-believe characters facing problems in a strange world, learning to cope and solve their problems. We get to read fiction with no risk to ourselves, and maybe learn something, or at least get entertained.
Beginning Again
What to do? You know how reading would help. You recall how fun it used to be. But you’re too busy now. I’ll list some strategies to re-form the reading habit, provided by Clare Mulroy in this article:
- Avoid long books, at least at first. Read short ones to attain a sense of accomplishment you can build on.
- Read a genre you enjoy before branching out. Again, this increases the chance you’ll finish a few books, helping to re-form the habit.
- Schedule a daily time to read. This informs your psyche about the importance of reading compared to the rest of your daily tasks, and ingrains the habit.
- Avoid distractions. Free your reading time from phone and computer notifications, the TV, and anything else that might cause your mind to wander.
- Experiment with different formats. Find out what works best for sustaining your reading habit—paper books, e-books, or audiobooks.
- Set a reading goal. Make it an easy goal at first to give yourself a positive sense of achievement. After meeting that goal, set a stretch goal. Consider telling a trusted partner about your goal, or joining a reading challenge. That adds social pressure to the task
- Stop reading a book you don’t like, and start another. If you DNF (did not finish), that’s okay. Very few books get better after the first twenty pages. Life’s too short to read bad books.
- Bring a book with you whenever you leave home. That way you can read during any idle times that pop up during the day.
- Join a reading community. Perhaps someone has started a book club in your neighborhood, or you could start one. Online book clubs exist as well.
Come on, America! Let’s turn this trend around and lead the world in reading for pleasure. Doing my best to supply the demand for entertaining fiction, I’m—
Poseidon’s Scribe