Sir Jonathan Bate, a professor of English literature at Oxford, this week voiced his concern at the “attrition of attention span”, as witnessed through his undergraduates’ inability to keep up with reading lists. “Now, instead of three novels in a week, many students will struggle to get through one novel in three weeks,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
It isn’t just young people who are finding it hard to concentrate on books. In July, the UK charity The Reading Agency found that only half of UK adults now read regularly for pleasure. So how can we put our phones down and get back into reading?
1. Keep your phone as far away as possible
“If you’re going to sit down with a book, leave your phone somewhere else,” says Tanya Goodin, a digital detox campaigner and the author of My Brain Has Too Many Tabs Open. “This means it is not visible and not in the same room, because self-control doesn’t work.” Goodin points to research into what happens to our problem-solving ability and IQ when we have our phones in close proximity: “It has been shown that only when our device is in a different room do we really have the full ability to focus.”
Cal Newport, a productivity expert, agrees that out of sight is out of mind. “Keep your phone plugged in at a set location when you’re at home,” he advises. “If you need to look things up or check your messages, go to where the phone is.” If your phone is not by your side, then “if you’re reading and feel a tinge of boredom it’s much easier to push through”.
2. Read physical books – and make notes
Damian Barr, the author and host of The Big Scottish Book Club, tries to carry a book at all times: “If I haven’t got something with me, I can’t read it. Books always lose against social media in the competition on my phone, so I need actual paper.” He limits his social media usage with blocker apps, “which I can override but at least it makes me more aware of how much time I am spending on them”.
Lara Feigel, an author and professor of English at King’s College London, says her students are struggling to keep up with the reading. “I urge them to buy actual copies of books rather than reading online,” she says, “and to makes notes by hand on the books – sometimes I ask them to bring their books in and show me the underlinings and scribbles”.
“Books are part of the pleasure of reading,” says Goodin. “I love getting a new book, smelling it and cracking open the spine.” This can “give you a dopamine hit more than a screen”.
3. Retrain your brain
“Reading is a marathon, not a sprint,” says Daisy Buchanan, the host of You’re Booked podcast and author of the forthcoming Read Yourself Happy. “Like exercise, reading came naturally to us as children, but we have acquired a lot of noise and distraction. Start with the smallest amount of time you can and build it back up again.”
Goodin suggests setting a target of 10 pages at a time.
4. Work out your optimum time and place to read
For Buchanan, this is first thing in the morning. “When I wake up my brain is on fire with thoughts and anxiety. If I make the effort to pick up a book first, and not my phone, reading gives my mind the information it is craving, slowing it down and providing it with something to focus on.”
5. Don’t treat reading as if it’s a chore
Important books are the goal not the starting point, says Buchanan. “You need to begin with books for pleasure and joy in order to work up to things that really challenge you.” When Buchanan’s brain got “hijacked” by a smartphone, she returned to the books she had enjoyed as a child, such as Judy Blume, to rekindle her love of literature. “We’re not going to read if it is virtuous and worthy.”
Joining a book club can give you the motivation to keep going to the end of a book, says Goodin. She also recommends rediscovering libraries as a place to find inspiration.
6. Don’t forget audiobooks (and good TV)
“If you haven’t read for a while, an audiobook might be a good gateway drug to get back into the habit,” says Goodin, especially if you can multitask and listen while commuting or walking the dog. Turning off notifications when you listen is a must, she says.
Don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t getting through a massive stack of books a year, says Barr. “Feel good about what you do read, not bad about what you don’t. It is about the quality of the storytelling. An incredible box set like the West Wing with astonishing dialogue and characterisation is going to feed the story needs of your heart and brain better than a novel that reads like it was written by a former Tory MP.”