There was a time in my life when I could fly through a book in a day or even an entire night without taking a break to eat or drink. There was a time when I had the ability to fully engage in the art of reading and comprehend, even those parts in a book that are usually uninteresting and often deemed to be “page-fillers.” It was only this year that I realized how much less my brain has gotten at engaging with long-form content, especially written text. I heard a modern-day philosopher from back home describe reading as the highest form of listening. His reasoning was that when you read a book or some kind of long text, you just sit down, shut up, and listen to what the person has to say. And right now, I’ve reached a stage where I can’t fully hold onto trains of thought without getting sidetracked.
Okay, maybe I am not as bad as I’m making myself out to be,
but in contrast to how I used to conduct myself, this revelation was pretty
daunting. It came to me while I was doing a reading for my tech management
class, where I was basically forced to read this not-so-interesting book called
Deep Work. In the introduction, Cal Newport, in his infinite “self-help”
wisdom, talks about how people are losing the ability to cognitively engage in
tasks and work, constantly calling out distractions. He argues that people who
can engage in “deep work” are at an advantage because, frankly, most of society
has succumbed to shallow work. I know that analogy doesn’t directly correlate
to my inability to read long-form content, but while reading that 5-10 page
introduction, I noticed my hands reaching for my phone at least five times.
Sometimes I would find myself scrolling through whatever social media app I
could find, not knowing when, why, or how I got there. I’ve never been called
out as much as Cal Newport did, and I’ve never felt so out of control over my
own actions when it comes to distractions.
Social media is amazing. It’s literally one of the only
reasons I can connect with my people and stay informed about what’s happening
back home while studying abroad. And that’s a mighty fine excuse not to limit
its usage. If someone came and told me that I’d need to limit my use of
Instagram, I’d probably answer, “Yeah. But I use it not because I’m hooked, but
because it keeps me in touch with home. If I were back home, I probably
wouldn’t be as active.” And whoever offered the advice would be guilt-tripped
into retreat. However, as with many great excuses, this one is also based on a
lie. Social media is amazing and pretty useful, but it’s not everything. Deep
down, I know there’s a balance between using social media and limiting its hold
on my time, and I haven’t brought myself to accept that fact because accepting
it means acting on it.
According to a rehab foundation website I read a while ago,
the biggest lie addicts tell themselves is that they can stop if they want to.
I’m not saying I’m addicted to social media, but I can’t deny the effect it has
had on my ability to consume and engage in long-form content, which I believe
is essential because learning doesn’t come in bite-sized information but
through actual research, understanding, reflection, connecting dots to see
cause and effect, analysis of arguments, and so much more. This hinders my
ability to stick to a problem and solve it slowly. It hinders my ability to see
nuance and follow a narrative over a long period to find the resolution. This
hinders me in lots of ways, and I believe I’m not the only one. Many people
don’t understand the hold social media and their smartphones have on them until
one day they find themselves unable to do the things they used to do with
relative ease.
This is also something I could tie to digital humanities.
When we talk about the digital world and how it links with multiple disciplines
and affects people, we should also consider the traits it takes away to give
benefits to humankind. I’ve personally decided to slowly distance myself from
social media and try to find a balance between usage and limitation, to find a
middle ground where I can enjoy the perks of social media without it being at
my expense and while building and working on returning to form.
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