I have just read a book that deeply resonates with me. Reader, Come Home gives voice to the ways that consuming digital information has changed us and our brains. Maryanne Wolf discusses the importance of preserving our capacity for "deep reading"--the kind of reading that engages our analytical and empathetic faculties and which is deeply entwined with the experience of reading a physical book made of paper and ink. She sees benefits in both digital and printed mediums and suggests ways in which we can learn to create balance and be intentional about how we consume digital information.
The reason it resonated with me is because I too have felt a loss of focused attention when on the computer or my phone. I easily get distracted, clicking between tabs open on my internet browser. I find myself stopping mid-task or mid-read to look something else up, or check who just emailed me when my email tab emits the "new mail" gong.
When I read a book, it is such a wonderful feeling to sit down and focus my attention on a linear progression of thought and be transported away from a hazy world of half-attended tasks and half-finished thoughts broken by distractions. To be free to think, and concentrate.
To be a thinker, to create new thought after considering ideas borne of others, takes...time. I think time is so important. We rush so much these days. We place so much importance on how fast one can think and spit out an answer. At least I have. For some reason I used to think that if I didn't answer a question fast enough--if I didn't have an insight as fast as someone else--then I must be stupid. I even used to drill myself on mental arithmetic to make myself do addition and subtraction faster. I equated speed with smarts, as do many people, I suppose. Of course, I now know that some of the most gifted mathematicians in the world don't do mental math. There are so many different kinds of intelligences in this world--far beyond the human species, too.
I often think of Darwin--what he was able to discover by having the leisure time to observe nature, to read, to integrate his observations, and then--make a startling intellectual leap that has transformed our understanding of life ever since. He was privileged to be able to engage his vast intellect in this way. Many have not been so lucky to have leisure time. Here and now, I believe we can indeed make a conscious choice, within the limits of our circumstances, to slow down and be deep readers, deep observers. The benefits of doing so are incalculable.
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