I used to read a lot, nowadays I barely read at all. It's sad because I genuinely loved reading, and I'm not entirely sure why I stopped reading entirely. Reading is a good habit, and I want to get back into reading, but it's so incredibly hard to pick up a book and start reading.
I think the main culprit behind this behavior is doom scrolling.
Doom scrolling has singlehandedly fucked over my entire mind, destroying my attention span. Every time I don't have something immediate to, I'll pick up my phone, and doom scroll. Scroll, scroll, a new video every 3 seconds, a little hit of stimulation.
Reading demands the exact opposite. Sit still, be patient, pay attention. You can't just "scroll" past parts you find boring. You will have to read through boring pages before you find something becomes interesting, its part of the experience. There's no algorithm feeding you something new the moment your attention starts to drift.
That's what makes good habits so fragile.
I believe enforcing good habits is more difficult than getting rid of bad habits because bad habits don't just affect you directly, they interfere with all of the good ones.
Reading pulls me toward a book, Doomscrolling pulls me toward my phone. Picking up my phone takes no effort because it's always close to me. A book asks more than picking up my phone. It asks for patience, quiet, and my mind before giving me any reward. When these two forces are pitted against each other, it isn't hard to predict which one wins.
Once a bad habit wins enough times, the good habit becomes even harder.
You stop reading for a week, then a month, then a few months. Eventually reading stops feeling like something you naturally feel like doing and more like a chore that you convince yourself to do.
This isn't just about reading and doomscrolling. This dynamic can be applied to every context.
The strange part is that I never stopped enjoying reading, I simply got better at doing other things, easier things. And in that pursuit, I lost one of my most valuable activities.