DiscoverA Mug of Insights023: A Defence of Long-Form Reading In Our Distracted Age
023: A Defence of Long-Form Reading In Our Distracted Age

023: A Defence of Long-Form Reading In Our Distracted Age

Update: 2025-09-24
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This week, let's get beyond the headline and examine how our relationship to long-form reading has changed, and what we can do to rescue our attention through a digital diet.


Sources mentioned in the video:

The 2017 estimate of how many words we read daily:

https://askwonder.com/research/words-average-smartphone-user-reads-per-day-compared-users-vision-problems-adhd-ntzomu34l

The 2023 study on The Reverse Flynn Effect:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289623000156?ref=amugofinsights.org

'On Ultra-Processed Content' by Cal Newport:

https://calnewport.com/on-ultra-processed-content/?ref=amugofinsights.org


Companion article for this episode:

https://www.amugofinsights.org/how-i-trained-my-attention-to-read-again/


Links & Goodies:

Want more food for thought and deeper insights for your reading life? Subscribe to my newsletter for free here for weekly bonuses and tips:

https://www.amugofinsights.org/


Download the digital notebook I use to organise ideas for these episodes:

https://www.rcwaldun.com/your-syntopicon


My classes on rediscovering the joys of reading & writing:

https://www.rcwaldun.com/classes


Legal:

This episode was produced and published under the imprint of © Literary. Publication. Our design consultant for the show is Victoria Aitken, and the intro/outro music, 'Armchair Expert' was composed and performed under the music project 'The Woods' by © Johnny McFadzean.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2IG6UBvhnU3607AuOtCYFq

Website: https://www.musicfromthewoods.com/



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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023: A Defence of Long-Form Reading In Our Distracted Age

023: A Defence of Long-Form Reading In Our Distracted Age