The Lost Art of Slow Reading

Remember the last time you got lost in a book? Not just “read a chapter before bed” lost. I mean the kind where you look up and realise hours have passed, your tea’s gone cold, and you’ve been living in someone else’s world.

For a lot of us, that kind of reading has slipped away. Life sped up. Our attention splintered into pings, feeds, and news alerts. We skim headlines. We scroll. We move on.

Why Slow Reading Feels Different

When you let yourself linger in a story, something happens. Your mind starts to settle. You notice turns of phrase. You feel the weight of a moment. Scientists talk about how deep reading strengthens memory and empathy, but honestly, you don’t need research to tell you it just feels good.

It’s the mental equivalent of taking the long way home because the sunset is too pretty to rush past.

Reading as a Tiny Act of Rebellion

The world is built to keep you moving fast. Choosing to sit still with a book is a quiet protest. It’s telling your brain, “We’re not in a hurry.”

It’s also a relief. No swiping. No autoplay. Just you, the page, and the slow unwinding of someone else’s thoughts.

Ways Back In

If it’s been a while, start small.

• Keep a book where you will trip over it, next to your coffee mug, on the sofa, in your bag.

• Pick something you actually want to read, not something you feel you should read.

• Give yourself 10 minutes. Often, 10 turns into 30.

Stories as Travel Without Packing a Bag

A good story can drop you into a street market in Lagos, a rainstorm in Kyoto, or a kitchen in Santiago. It is not just entertainment. It is a way to see the world through someone else’s eyes and to borrow their memories, even just for a chapter.

A Gentle Nudge

Next time you catch yourself in a doomscroll spiral, pause. Reach for a book. Let yourself drift. You might find it is exactly the pace you have been craving.

Anyone else miss that feeling of being so wrapped up in a story that you forget what time it is?