How to Read More in a Digital Age

Five hours. I spend five hours on my phone every day. It is the understatement of the century when I say that it’s confronting. Throughout the day, it doesn’t feel like that much. I’m answering messages, browsing through Instagram and LinkedIn (at least one hour of my time is spent scrolling through LinkedIn), listening to music, podcasts or audiobooks, doing school work, and the list goes on.

“The new generation has redefined what it means to be young.”

I try to be more intentional with my time, allocating most of my free time (if I have any) to reading books while the new generation is glued to a screen. I’ll be honest, I’ll feel old saying this, but the new generation is on a whole other level. They have phones when they’re barely ten, several social media accounts, and parents don’t have the energy to monitor their behavior, leaving them exposed to online hate. I learned that the new generation has redefined what it means to be young, that is, they actively engage with others, putting their mark on the world early on, and while it’s fun to share snippets of your life, it also begs the question of where the notion of privacy has gone, if it’s even still around.

Children of today compare themselves to the unrealistic standards of others because they have this urge, this need to prove themselves. Prove that they are just as, or even better, than the person on their screen. They push themselves to be the best. They’re expected to be the best. No mental health days, no tears, but a brave face to weather the storm. Instead, you have a piece of paper that summarizes your entire life. If you didn’t do enough, you’re put at the bottom of the pile. It pains me that having a degree on this piece of paper is necessary. I believe that people are so much more than their grades, so much they can tell you about their lives, their experiences. And children have to grow up in this competitive environment where everybody’s out to get something.

Nothing is free.

The pandemic has asked us to be more flexible, more creative, and demanded more energy, blurring the boundaries between work and private. I’m currently following education from the comfort of my own home, sitting behind my laptop for hours. While this is easy, I have barely felt like a student in the past two years. I barely feel like I’m learning. So, when I close the laptop for the day, I find escapism in my books. I love to read, exploring new worlds and falling in love with characters. It opens my mind, makes me happy, but most of all, it gives me a brief moment to not think about the turmoil of 2020 and 2021.

“Reading doesn’t have to be an individual experience, it can be shared with loved ones and in doing so, let’s the story be told for decades.”

People often assume that reading is something you do on our own, which yes true, however if you feel unmotivated to read, you can also ask a friend to buddy-read. This makes it easier for the both of you to commit and afterwards, you can have a discussion about the book! Isn’t that cool? Reading doesn’t have to be an individual experience, it can be shared with loved ones and in doing so, let’s the story be told for decades. These stories can be provocative, funny, heart-warming, heart-breaking, and need to be told. As a writer, I’ve realized how important it is to have these stories because you might recognize yourself in a character, connecting to a world that feels so familiar to your own, knowing that someone out there has been through the same.

This is partly the reason why I created Reading with Esmée because I wanted to share my thoughts on the wonderful (and not so wonderful) stories I get the privilege of consuming. For writers, it’s their life’s work. They spent the last few years trying to capture a life experience, in the best way they could, with characters that hold their heart. I kind of fell into writing through my uncle who led to me a writing group, and it’s been 4 amazing years, in which I’ve written five books (and counting!). And so I understand what it’s like to try and capture a brief moment in your life, my characters haunting me every night, demanding my attention.

We each have our own unique story. And these stories deserve to be told. It’s time to put the screens away, trade a movie for a book, talk about the stories that impacted your life, laugh about it, cry about it, live through it. I’m attempting to read 100 books this year, and only time will tell if I succeed, but I’m excited to find myself again, re-energize, and read stories that hit close to home.