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Chapter 4
Grow Your Heart & Mind
The world will offer opportunities when you aren’t looking. Imagine wandering through the library with no intention, just picking up random books and perusing the shelves. Then Bam! You see a book with potential.
While wandering through my local library on a lark with my daughter Lucy, it happened to me. I picked up Update by author Blake Crouch. I had loved his previous book, Recursion, and assumed this would also be a good read. He loves diving into science with no apology, using technical terms that are easily above my head. Because of my love of science, I’d read Scientific America magazine cover to cover, even though I rarely had a clue what 95% of the scientific terms were. To me, it was an act of absorption and getting a sense that the world was wondrous as well as predictable the more you learned.
It only took less than two days to finish reading Update cover to cover. Reaching the end of the book, I was pleased with how I was inspired and agreed with the ending: “We don’t need more intellect. We need more empathy.” What was magical was how it tied into what I was reading in chapter 4 of the book Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari.
Chapter 4: The Collapse of Sustained Reading
Okay, so what does an inability of sustained reading have to do with empathy?
In this chapter, there is a reference to the various mediums we access information, whether it’s television, videos, social media, or news outlets in print and visual. Each one impacts how we interact with the content provided.
Research has shown there are benefits to reading books, and the one that stands out for me is Empathy. The more novels you read, the better you are at reading other’s emotions.
I read in Update how we’re genetically pre-disposed to max out at engaging and connecting with 150 people. So that’s why when we hear of people outside our bubble struggling, we aren’t as ready to jump up and help or find it easier to dismiss the information.
In “Update,” the main character updates his intellect through gene science and observes others who also had the gene edits to improve their intelligence. He took notice of how their actions became based on outcomes and less on the best interests of the people in their way. Basically a lack of empathy.
I’m going to reach here… me to generalize here. I think perhaps the digital evolution affecting how we gather information (gaining intelligence) has created a by-product of our struggles with sustained reading.
Our dopamine-addicted brain demands constant engagement by distractions to the next shiny thing. Sitting with a book in hand can seem to give the impression of sitting in a room alone with nothing but our thoughts. For myself, this concept appealed, but these days it makes me uncomfortable thinking that I’ll be missing out on the next hit of news or viral trends.
What really hit home with me after reading this chapter was how our brains operate when we read for a longer period of time, especially when we take time to read fiction, stories that have no application outside of escaping into the world in the pages.
So at this time, you might be asking, okay Crystal, what is in reading that’s good for me? The science has shown:
The more novels you read, the better you get at reading other people’s emotions. “When you read fiction in particular, you imagine what it is like to be another person.” Essentially experience what it’s like to see the world from different perspectives.
The alternative is to default to scrolling through “…disconnected fragments of shrieking and fury that dominate social media…” and see your “…internal voices become cruder, louder, and less able to hear more tender and gentle thoughts.”
I am seeing this reflected in my own life. I have been an avid reader and love stories about relationships and social dynamics. I think perhaps this is why I prefer to surround myself and work with others who look at the world with kind eyes and avoid getting caught in a rabbit hole of negativity with others.
Yes, the social fabric of humanity seems threadbare these days, but it won’t be resolved by scrolling through all the outrage and horrible news that is designed to be clickbait. I have seen how it impacts my life with trauma instead of inspiring anyone to make better choices.
So I’d like to leave you with this thought.
When you need downtime, have a book ready to pick up. Choose one that interests you. If you don’t know where to start, check in with someone you trust, suggest a real page-turner, and grow your ability to become more perspective, open, and empathetic. And even read how we can all work to overcome challenges and make it the other side even better.
