After stuffing five days of clothes into my small carry-on, finishing a detailed out-of-office document for my co-workers, and submitting my final paper for my last class, I was finally able to escape to Bermuda on a cruise. I knew I would have no cellphone reception and was eager to dive into an 818-page book that had been on my reading list for years: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

This was the first time in years that I did not have full access to my cell phone or any WIFI for five full days. I usually use my Kindle or read directly from my iPad, but I wanted to have the full digital detox experience and read an old-fashioned physical book. However, my experience was not what I expected.

As soon as I started reading, I immediately wanted to google specific words and look up other sources to compare the characters in history to the accuracy of Ron Chernow’s ideation. I was used to being able to look up a word on my phone or open another window to google a source. Was I so used to reading digital articles and books that I forgot how to become immersed in a book? I was easily distracted and could not focus on the award-winning language on the page in front of me.

Deep Reading

Maria Konikova in “Being a Better Online Reader” suggests that reading on digital screens has decreased our “sophisticated comprehension processes” (Konikova 2014). Was I was so used to reading with distractions that I forgot how to comprehend when reading a hard-copy book with no digital distractions.

She suggests that some readers are more skilled at multi-tasking and self-regulating focus in a digital world than others. When reading text online, we must constantly train ourselves to frequently self-regulate to battle distractions. As a result, comprehension decreases, and deep reading is not achieved. Perhaps I have gotten so used to reading digital text that my analog comprehension skills have atrophied.

Text Clutter

Although my print reading skills may have decreased over time, I also wondered if it was the language in Alexander Hamilton that I had trouble absorbing. Chernow’s book is filled with brilliant information and unique points of view on many historical characters. However, I believe an 818-page book needs to be incredibly captivating to keep the reader’s attention to defend its length.

In William Zinsser’s On Writing Well, he comments on the simplicity of writing saying “clutter is the enemy” (Zinsser, 2013, p. 15). Although many may disagree, I would argue that Chernow’s award-winning book has too much superfluous language and clutter. The book is beautifully written, but may have kept my attention longer if the language was simplified. For example:

“He was small, with an extremely composed bearing, unusually small eyes, and something a little furtive in his glance.”

(Chernow, 2016, p. 25)

Even though the style is cleverly descriptive, this sentence could have been simplified and shortened to create a clearer point of view. The word “small” was used twice and further repeated using “composed bearing.” After reading Zinsser’s book, I couldn’t help but reflect on my own writing style and the pressure I put on myself to use longer and more sophisticated words that are not in my daily vocabulary. He says, “The long word is no better than the short word.” (Zinsser, 2015, p. 15).

After completing my digital detox experiment, it was hard to determine if my deep reading skills had declined or if the language in my book was too cluttered to keep my attention. My deep reading skills could have been possibly recovered if the language was less flooded with extra words. Maybe this book wasn’t my style, but the only way to find out if my comprehension skills have decreased is to try another book. Perhaps I’ll start planning my next vacation with no WIFI…maybe Bora Bora?

Citations:

Chernow, R. (2016). Alexander Hamilton. Random House Large Print Publishing.

Konnikova, M. (2014, July 16). Being a better online reader. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/being-a-better-online-reader

Zinsser, W. (2013). On writing well. Harper Paperbacks.