How did we spend our time in the pre-Internet era? We couldn’t Google our questions, and we didn’t spend hours on end on YouTube trying to find the next best indie band. Communicating via apps and social media was unimaginable; you’d have to go ring your best friend’s doorbell and ask them to come out to play. Today, we work, play, and communicate via screens connected to each other through virtual networks. Naturally, we turn to tech and the Internet for entertainment, too. An this means that today, when we have free time, we tend to be rather unproductive, passive recipients of whatever digital content others have produced for mass consumption.

However, there’s one activity we can engage in that’s truly constructive, active and enjoyable: reading.

But, you might ask, why read an entire printed book when you can simply read a book’s summary online? Why read when you can watch a movie, go out with friends, or just hang around doing nothing?

There are plenty of reasons why reading, and especially speed reading, is the best activity you can take up when you have free time.

In fact, turning reading into a habit can overhaul your life. By implementing the reading formula of Read, Retain, Relate and Read, you get to accumulate exciting new knowledge and use it to advance your career and your interpersonal relationships. But there’s even more to reading.

Reading Equals Learning

Our generation is completely hooked on the habit of getting things the easy way. Reading is a demanding cognitive skill that requires active engagement for it to be fruitful. As a result, you get to actually learn when you read about something.

Unlike watching videos or listening to lectures, reading immerses you in the concepts and principles contained in the text, giving you a chance to figure out relationships and rules yourself. Self-processing results in better understanding and higher knowledge retention.

Language Improvement

When you read a lot, you get to improve your communication and language skills. Reading lets you pick up new vocabulary, learn new phrases, and get familiar with mind-blowing metaphors and other linguistic nuances. Plus, the more you read, the better your writing becomes. This is because you’re consistently exposed to proper language use — something you rarely come across online.

Know Thyself

A few people are naturally inclined to look inward for self-knowledge. For the rest of us, self-reflection is a daunting prospect, and perhaps an unfamiliar task altogether.

Reading books introduces various scenarios that pique your attention and challenge your worldview. When we identify with the protagonist, it brings to mind many questions, such as “How would I react?” or “I’d never speak to him like that” or “She shouldn’t be so naïve.” Books are miniature life lessons you can learn from without going through the awkward and often painful life situations they describe in your own daily life. Need we say more?

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments