Want to read more? Choose an extremely long book | Juliet Lapidos

Our 21st-century attention spans require a new approach to literacy. I’d like to propose one here

Perhaps you want to read more. Perhaps you feel you ought to read more. Perhaps you just finished rewatching all of Game of Thrones in anticipation of Season 8, and your brain hurts, or rather your brain is completely numb, and with your last remaining synapse, you think: what if I had spent all of that time, or even just a quarter of that time … reading? But reading is hard, you think. At least, reading books is hard. You read social media constantly, but when you turn to a novel, you find yourself skimming, and then texting, and then tweeting.

Perhaps you are a lost cause. Your brain is already rotten beyond rejuvenation, a victim of all that prestige TV and handheld technology. Admit it, you will never read beyond 280 characters again. You already stopped reading this piece!

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2JgHen0