Reading Rainbow Was Right: why books are different from other media

As I’ve tried to stray away from the ever more fragmented media landscape dominated by Twitter posts, Instagram captions, and Tik Tok videos, I’ve found myself reading books more than ever. With that has come a lot of recognition of the power of books and what they can do for us. This may sound a little pretentious and intellectually snobby but there’s something about the way we engage with them that’s fundamentally different than other forms of media. While you can label almost any form of new media “content”, I don’t think I’ve heard that word used to describe a book. To me, this is because books go above and beyond content. They aren’t made to hook you into a platform or sell ads, (unless you have an ad-supported Kindle I guess). They’re made to be sat with and reckoned with. It’s almost impossible to multitask while reading a book. That’s why I believe we should have more of them in our lives. 

Sitting with a book takes intention and commitment. There’s no half-assing it. You’re either reading or your not. This act of sitting forces you to be more engaged than watching TV or listening to podcasts. With TV you have the constant distraction of your phone, your surroundings, and even to a large part your own thoughts. With podcasts, distractions are more prominent because it’s almost a given that you’re multi-tasking while listening. No matter how interesting or engaging it is, you’re still not absorbing it all. It’s background noise. That’s why I think books are different. It’s easy to throw a movie or podcast on in the background, you can’t do that with a book. The act of sitting down to read requires interacting with the words on the page and the overarching theme or story. You may get lost or forget things you read, but it’s still an active process. 

This active processing causes you to absorb and retain what you read. It may not always be top of mind but because you dedicated the days or weeks it takes to read a book it’s in your brain somewhere. I’ve listened to plenty of interesting podcasts but in most cases, it goes in one ear and out the other. With books though, the ideas are more concrete and I have an easier time resurfacing the ideas when something triggers them. This isn't just because the medium requires more processing, I think it’s also about the amount of information. You can learn a lot from an hour's conversation, but it’s still just one hour in your day and it’s not like you’re listening to that conversation over and over again. With a book, you learn more about the story or topic on a recurring basis which helps reinforce what you’re reading. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction spending that much time with one thing creates a much larger impact than reading one article or listening to one podcast about the subject. 

While non-fiction books allow us to deeply engage with topics of interest and retain what we learned, fiction also has immense value. Fiction lets us enter new worlds, and in a sense experience different lives. While movies and other mediums give us a window into other worlds, the immersive quality of books takes it to another level. Again the duration is what makes the difference, we’re spending extended periods of time living in these worlds and with the characters. Not only do the worlds feel more lived in because of this but the characters feel much more three-dimensional. It’s a little paradoxical to say that when you can literally see these characters on the screen in movies and TV, but those mediums can only give so much time to character development. With a book, you don’t only see the characters’ actions or hear what they say, but oftentimes you also get to read what they're thinking. That extra layer of motivation and personality makes all of the difference. It also gives us empathy for different types of people and situations they may find themselves in. This is due to the full immersion that takes place when you’re reading. By spending this time and having to be fully engaged with their stories you can feel those stories more deeply and gain a better understanding of what they’re going through. 

The type of deep immersion reading gives us is slowly disappearing. We have endless distractions and different types of entertainment that keep us from reading. TikTok and Instagram each give us constant drips of content where we can expend minimal effort but still get the dopamine hit. There’s always something new to watch on the ever-growing number of streaming platforms and youtube. Even the types of things we use to read have been co-opted into platforms that better align with our constant need for maximum stimulation. Why read when you can listen to an audiobook or podcast and keep scrolling on your phone? I’m not entirely against any of these platforms (except for maybe TikTok). I love movies, TV, and podcasts as much as any other member of Gen Z does, but we should still leave room for extended periods of deep immersion through reading. 

Reading makes a lasting impact on us by forcing us to truly engage with ideas and stories. We have to choose to do it and sit down with what we’ve chosen. That’s extremely powerful in a world where any number of other options are literally at our fingertips. Just that act of intention is enough to prove the value of reading. When you add in what you can learn, experience, and feel, it becomes critical for our continued growth. It gives us insight into everything we’re curious about and gives us the tools to go back into the world as more well-rounded and engaged people. It’s an art and practice that we should all strive to adopt, even if it’s just to prevent our brains from social media-derived atrophy.