The monk who sold his smartphone

Where are my read books? This paraphrase of the question that Teodor Kraj asks himself in "Professionalac" by Dušan Kovačević could be asked by each of us who used the summer vacation for serious reading. When we were packing, in some earlier decades, we were worried about whether we would bring enough books "for the beach". Today, the key question is whether the internet works on the beach, that is, whether it throws Wi-Fi from some cafe or we can use our own, as a result of the political agreement on roaming.

It is unnecessary to remind of that or to offer the reader pictures from "before and today" that show that since approximately 2007, our hands have been dominated by a device, that we all have slightly bowed necks and busy thumbs. Those who are not, wear headphones. It is not worth whining that the world has changed when it has, just as our need to expect an air conditioner in our boarding house has changed, even though in the years just mentioned we could also do without it. The failure of the air conditioning in the car is already a cataclysm that, logically, only happens in the summer at 40 degrees.

But while the various technological improvements in our lives are really useful and keep us healthy, changing our reading habits can work in the opposite direction, dulling and impoverishing us, and when I say that, I don't just mean the dictionary. If we assume the consumption of usually illiterate posts and looking at pictures to read quality literature, then in vain we carefully choose the food we will eat and exercise (swim) to be fit. It would be more appropriate to go for junk, gyros and pizzas from the kiosk, but at that level (stomach) we are infallible. The only difference in this comparison is that in the case of reading, street food is more expensive than the best restaurant.

There are many reasons for our behavior, but a few stand out. Social networks require us to be constantly informed. Not in the sense of what's happening in the world, but what's happening in our social environment, which is mostly digital. Even if we publish our photos and thoughts, then we are obliged to respond to comments. An even bigger problem, as research shows, is the loss of attention and the ability to understand what we read.

Social media has imposed on us content that is consumed within 15 seconds (not by accident). During this time, the user has a complete experience, from knowledge to conclusion and can go further. An average book requires ten or more hours of reading, sometimes "nothing happens" in the first hundred pages, which is more than a thousand posts. If you do pick it up, you will very often grab your phone "just to check something" and very quickly your concentration will escape from the paper to the screen because, undoubtedly, everything is faster and more interesting there.

However, it is possible to read good literature from the phone screen, right? Many people transfer good books to their phones to avoid lugging them around in their suitcases and, in fact, are reading Updike and Dostoyevsky while we think they're tweeting. Hmm, science doesn't exactly back it up. Another study from Japan's Showa University (Showa, lead author Motoyasu Honma) showed that the same text was better understood by those who read it on paper than those who did it on the phone. But researchers offer a solution: take deep breaths while reading from your mobile phone and it will significantly help you understand the text better. Especially if it's work or school.

We are left with audio books, which have flourished in recent years thanks to mobile phones. Listening to a text that someone reads well can be a new, fantastic beach experience. The disadvantage is that there is no skipping and reading acceleration, as well as a considerable isolation from the environment. Of course, there is always a wise recommendation to forget about your cell phone on vacation, to detoxify yourself with information whenever possible. Mostly not.