Nourish Your Brain
Three Point Essay #41 | Mass Tragedy, Meat and Vegetables, Cognitive Benefits of Reading
Hello, Open Minds
Jeff Sullivan’s Three Pointers
I.
If you have good reading comprehension you’re ahead of 99% of people.
The masses are drooling on themselves while struggling to process Tik Tok subtitles. They don’t even bother to look up from their phones when they cross the street. When you get a glimpse into their eyes, you see an empty, thousand yard stare; the gaze of someone enslaved to social media algorithms.
In the 2020s, instead of reading books, most people mindlessly absorb info online. With no intention about where they direct their attention. Worse, people convince themselves there's no problem with this.
Consuming online content makes you feel like you're learning. But a high percentage of it is garbage. Never-ending marketing, shameless clickbait and petty small talk. This endless stream of nonsense crowds out useful info from your mind.
In a very real way, you feel like you're getting smarter as you get stupider.
Books are a sacred place where marketing, clickbait, and small talk don’t exist. The only thing a book is trying to sell you on is ideas. Not a product, service, or scam, which is part of so many posts you see online.
Social media eats your life
But if your social media timeline is people who inspire you, it’s no problem that you check each platform 17 times per day, right?
This is another thing I’ve noticed—even if, for example, your entire feed is people giving fitness or ‘productivity’ advice, there’s still a negative aspect to it. Because you see positive content, you rationalize spending 3 hours scrolling every day.
It’s awesome how good the algorithms are at showing you stuff you enjoy. But it’s also one of the most powerful distractions you’ll ever face. It’s so good that it gets in the way of everything else in your life. You know, the important stuff.
Instead of working out, you’re watching videos of someone workout. Instead of focusing on work, you’re watching videos about how to focus on your work. Instead of creating a project of your own, you’re watching videos on how to create a project of your own.
This seems obvious. But it’s a way bigger deal than you realize. To me, there’s nothing trivial about opening the same apps over and over and over and over to passively consume. It’s a dangerous compulsion. And it eats up so much time, every. single. day.
Everything compounds.
Imagine if all the time you spent scrolling social was used towards doing something creative. Or working on your mental or physical health. Or actually learning things from books. Or, best of all, speaking to people face to face! Looking another human in the eyes, and smiling. The physical world, remember? More of that. Imagine how much better your life would be.
My life and mind are in better condition now than when I was a social media consuming zombie. The only social app I have on my phone is Instagram which I check once a day for around 10 minutes. LinkedIn I go on from my computer to post. Most days I don’t look at Twitter at all. (I now use a software that lets me write out tweets and threads months in advance to avoid distraction).
These habits have opened up my time and thus increased my productivity. It’s also helped develop my ability to focus, and improved my mental health. Drastically.
II.
The collective wisdom of our species is in books.
For thousands of years, books were the only way to send knowledge to the next generation. The internet is great, but it produces more low-quality info than high-quality info.
A good book is the mental equal of meat and vegetables. Endless social media consumption is the mental equal of candy and cheese puffs.
III.
The Cognitive benefits of mental meat and vegetables:
Boosts your language skills: Reading exposes the brain to a wide range of words and language structures, which can help improve vocabulary and language skills. (I wouldn’t be able to learn languages so well if I wasn't a reader)
Enhances your critical thinking and analytical skills: Reading requires the brain to analyze and interpret text, which develops your ability to conceptualize things and form judgements.
Increases your attention span: Reading calls for sustained focus and concentration. This strengthens your brains ability to stay locked in one 1 task at a time.
Improves your memory: Reading requires the brain to process and store information. This helps develop memory and recall abilities.
Promotes emotional intelligence within you: Reading exposes the brain to different perspectives and experiences, which can help to increase empathy and EI.
But the best part about reading books is how many different lives you can live. Or at-least that's what it feels like. I pity the people who only get to live 1 life, because they've never known the feeling of being so immersed in a book that you forget about this world.
Great points! I am guilty of getting caught up in scrolling through social media. You have inspired me to reduce my scrolling time.
Great job, Jeff!