How to Read More While Traveling
Each has their own little tricks to read more books (or at least pretend you are reading books ), and more generally, we work our way through an endless backlog of podcast episodes, old New Yorker issues , Spotify playlists, and a variety of other content. …
Here’s mine: when I go to and from work, I have a voluntary system. If I’m standing, I can go listen to music or put on a podcast. (Or stare into space and take advantage of boredom, but honestly, that’s rare.)
However, if I am lucky enough to get a real seat, that means both of my hands are free, and therefore, I can use them to hold a book or magazine, and I should read, not rummage through my phone.
This system serves several different purposes: the first, the most obvious, is that it is a way to nudge yourself to use train downtime to read more, instead of just disappearing into the k-hole of Instagram and Twitter for one or two. I spend hours on the subway every day. But this rule also makes me feel less guilty about not fiddling with a book while still holding onto a subway pole, and it gives me a vague feeling that the annoying hours spent on a crowded train are it’s a sanctioned “fun” time that I can use to listen to music and memes or whatever. (Yes, I know I can work around this issue with e-books, but keep me alive.)
The downside to this is that sitting is a privilege, and I must use this precious time to further edify myself. With great power comes great responsibility.