In the past few days, three unrelated people have mentioned to me that they are ‘trying to read more’ after having stopped reading since their ‘smart’phones took over their lives. These are intelligent people who got sucked into the habit of scrolling, scrolling, scrolling through Facebook, Instagram and other websites. I have also been enjoying books again. We all know it can be very easy to just let your mind go numb and not even remember what you read and just click LIKE or LOL and keep scrolling. I usually go slightly deeper into a post and actually look at all the photos and read the words, but I know many people don’t even do that. So you might want to stick to 4 photos or fewer.
But I am seeing people waking up from the foggy daze of social media, getting bored with the fake news and fake drama and fake photos. We hang on because it has become the only means of communicating with certain people that we do care about, but many are spending less time, cutting friends lists, and even putting their accounts on hold. This is great news! It shows that people are feeling better and more hopeful and don’t need that brain-numbing scrolling as much. There is hope for our country and hope for us. People are realizing that they have been controlled and lied to by the media too many times and are tired of it.
Reading actual books, fiction and non-fiction, takes more concentration, but is so much more rewarding.
I hope this trend really picks up and social media withers away and becomes an afterthought. I hope people start having real, face to face, conversations and enjoying experiences without taking so many photos and thinking of what post they will share later. I hope people go back to being human. Reading good books is one step in the right direction.
Blue Skies and Green Pastures 
It’s crazy isn’t it PK. My smartphone has stolen hours away from my TV!!!! LOL.
I hear what your saying and it is nice to see people turn away from information machines and simply engage face to face or over the phone.
Funny you say that about TV. I actually started watching a series on Fox, The Passage . First time I’ve watched any regular TV in a couple years!
Yeah, such a wonderful time to spend with family or just your husband or wife. Together time.
It’s funny, but we often tell are kids–all electronics have to be turned off unless you want to watch TV as a family. At least then there is some level of interaction. When the kids were little, we read books out loud as a family. I miss those days!
Yeah, we always miss the simpler times and things.
Sounds like you’re doing a good job . We get some good conversations going when we go for hikes .
Amen to that! God bless!
By “social media,” are you including blogs? That seems to be where I spend a couple of hours a day or more, even though I have developed a system of elimination to keep it from being five or six hours. I skip quite a number of them because (1) that particular blogger never reads or likes my blogs or responds to my comments, (2) the blogger posts several times a day, and I don’t have time to read that much material from one blogger, or (3) the subject doesn’t offer anything fresh or new that would capture my interest. And yet I still find myself spending too much time staring at my laptop! Books? Audio books are great to work and work out to. Other than that, I don’t find much time for reading. (Suggestions?)
I feel like blogs are different, can be quality reading, but yes can still be a time stealer . 😊
What kind of books do you like, seekingdivineperspective? I will try to think of some if you give me some guidelines. I prefer fiction, especially young adult novels and stories about the future, like dystopian novels. But I also love all of Gary Paulsen’s books, especially the Brian books. In adult books, I enjoyed Frank Peretti’s books. Pearl Buck’s Dragon Seed and The Good Earth are wonderful historical novels about China. I used to read a lot of Stephen King, but not so much anymore. Since I homeschool, I have read many of my kid’s reading books. Two of my favorites are Yung Fu of the Upper Yangtze and House of Sixty Fathers. I also love stories about missionaries.
Books are my happy place. I love to read, it is part of my down time
I’ve always been an avid reader, so cheers to anything that makes people read more!