Use Your Facebook Habits As Inspiration to Read More Books
Basically, there is nothing wrong with reading Facebook, unless you prefer reading a good book instead (and the whole fake news problem). Fortunately, the habit loop , which David Kadavi describes as a “habit hook” in his post, holds the key to breaking this Facebook habit and replacing it with a reading habit.
Simply put, you need to define a trigger that makes you check Facebook first. Whether it’s simple boredom, taking a train ride home, worrying about what’s going on in the world, or simple procrastination, identify this trigger first. Then allow yourself to read the “microparticles” of the book. You don’t need to read entire chapters or passages to make the reading worthwhile . A few paragraphs here, or enough, depending on how much time you have.
Then, as Kadavi says, “crack the trigger.” He explains:
Whenever you feel a Facebook trigger, grab a book instead of reaching for your mobile device. It’s better if it’s a physical book first, because a mobile device is too tempting. If you need to use a mobile phone, rearrange the icons so that Facebook is hidden and the Kindle is visible.
I would go even further and note that if you have a mobile device consider reading e-books. Whether you’re reading through the Kindle app, just grab a PDF of your favorite books and read it home on the train, or use another method, remove that Facebook icon from view, and replace it with your favorite e-book reader app (ours is Google Play Books for Android and Kindle for iOS as expected).
Then all you have to do is read it. Make the Facebook app sophisticated enough to detect that you are thinking of reading a book before opening it, or better yet, uninstall it entirely and get battery savings . Of course, if your distracting app is not Facebook but, say, Twitter, you can follow the same steps instead. Feel free to replace with any distraction you prefer to do without, and replace it with a better habit, like reading.
Hack Your Facebook Habit With Your Reading Addiction | Middle