Put down your smartphone and pick up a book

Bertrand Russell grumbled in 1924 that “it is impossible to read in America, except on a train, because of the telephone.”1 He continued, “Everyone has a telephone, and it rings all day and most of the night.” Given the ubiquity of distractions today, a landline seems almost Arcadian.

As we ponder a difficult passage while reading online, our mind wanders to check our email, or the news, or to buy something new. Rather than being deeply engaged with the written word, we are seduced by the false promise of multitasking. For the first time, distractions have become an integral part of the experience of reading.

Online reading involves a different form of literacy than that of the printed page. The eyes bounce and flicker as they dart promiscuously, searching for nuggets of information and quick wins. It is almost as if people go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.2 The instant presentation of expansive information threatens the more demanding task of the formation …