Prioritizing Reading

2024 was kind of a down year for my reading. I read somewhere around 35 books this year, three of which came in the last week as I've decided to prioritize reading more in 2025. I wanted to look back at how my reading came in 2024, what's changed over the past week, and what I can take forward into the new year.

I usually aim to read a book a week, but in 2024, I felt this especially came in boom-bust cycles. I'd read four or five books back to back, but then wouldn't start a new book for another month. But this pace continued on the book scale too: I'd read the first half of a book over several days or a week, and then finish the second half over the course of a day. I hope to be more consistent over the next year, not putting things aside for so long, and also not cramming to make up for lost time. I like having reading goals, but I think for me these work best as guidelines rather than deadlines. Of course, some books are faster reads than others, and some books need time to simmer. I want to be more consistent about reading in general, but mindful of the various shapes and forms books can come in, and the disparate attention that they ask of me.

I've got two weeks off for the end of the year, and said from the beginning my goal for this time was simply to read, and that's what I've done. At the start of the break, I picked up a Boox Palma 2, a pocket-able ereader I've been looking at for a while, to compliment my larger Kobo Sage. I might write more about this device in the future, but this is not a call to go buy new gear. That said, already I've seen how I approach reading shift subtly over this time.

I've written before about my phone usage, and how I've been able to dramatically reduce my screentime. But that experiment also made me realize how little I care about screentime as a metric unto itself; it's not that useful outside of context. I didn't really mind if I spend a long while using my phone to play a game, watch a video, or look at social media in the evening after my day was done. Yet since picking up the Palma, I've seen my screentime drop even further. Many of the little breaks where I would normally reach for my phone is filled with some sort of reading, even if it's just a page or two of a book; but beyond that, I've also just reached for any device less. I've significantly reduced my social media usage, and felt no less from it; in fact, it's been a net-positive. I'm lately much more content to spend some time reading, or simply doing nothing at all.

Over this break, I've had nothing to do, and done that on purpose. I wanted to take a break even from most of my hobbies, only working out, running, and journaling. Without a doubt, it's easier to find or make time to read with such minimal demands on my time. But I've also set myself up for that. Everyone has different responsibilities and lives, but I think there's a ton of time available to everyone if you set your priorities. This doesn't have to be reading, but that's what I wanted to focus on. And in doing so, in getting even a step further from my phone as a distraction, I've felt over this past week how much time there is in a day. It's so easy for me to slip into some focus, not simply just scrolling Bluesky, but looking something up online, trying to solve some little query I have. That's all well and good, but it feels so nice to just sit on the couch and focus, and I hope to keep that feeling a bit more in 2025.

It's been a nice break, but I'm confident that I can keep the changes I've made during this time off up over the next year. When I'm immersed in reading, in language, I feel I can think deeper, clearer—I can relax, and enjoy the passing of time more. I'm not about to toss my phone in the lake; it still amazes me all the things I can do on such a small device, and I still love seeing loose thoughts from my friends and people I admire. But I'm realizing more and more the distance I want from it. And replacing some of that idleness with what makes me feel most enriched has been great.