Books:

Rob Henderson

@robkhenderson

You don’t lose yourself in the same way with a 15-second social media reels as you do with a 300-page book. Reading a book means stepping into someone else’s mind and walking beside them for hours—it’s immersive in a way short-form content can’t match. Even movies, which used to be the middle ground, now require too much focus for many people. Sitting through a two-hour film demands attention and patience that younger audiences increasingly find difficult to muster. It’s ironic, though, because reading or watching something long-form is like going to the gym for your mind. Even if you only read a few pages or finish a chapter, you come away feeling accomplished—like you’ve learned something or strengthened your ability to concentrate. No one feels that way after scrolling TikTok for half an hour, or worse, several hours. It’s the difference between how you feel before and after a workout versus how you feel after eating junk food. The workout might be hard in the moment, but you feel good afterward; the junk food feels good while you’re consuming it, and then you feel disgusted with yourself.