He’s smart, articulate, and curious. Qualities any parent or teacher would be proud of.
Yet if you look deeper you realise his source of knowledge is not books, not even articles, but YouTube videos. Unlimited, unrestricted access to a plethora of content at his fingertips.
He calls it “learning.” But in truth, it’s a confusing blur of opinions, half-truths, and cleverly packaged entertainment disguised as information.
He has an opinion on everything, be it politics, philosophy, psychology. And that too without ever having read a full book on any of them.
The influencers he follows are his teachers. He hangs on their every word with unquestioned finality. His judgments are borrowed, not built, not his own.
Every time I suggest a book, he goes online, reads up something and then comes back with arguments about why it isn’t worth reading. The irony? Those arguments come from someone else’s review video.
It’s not his fault, really.
This is the world we’ve created for him. One where attention is fragmented and depth is optional.
The present generation is growing up in the age of scrolls, shorts, and swipes. Here, thoughts are compressed into captions, opinions reduced to reactions, and learning often equated with consuming.
The result? Children are exposed to lots more information than ever before BUT they process even less of it deeply.
The Lost Art of Deep Reading
Deep reading is not the activity solely for the nerdy bookworms. It’s also not just about finishing a book.
It’s about entering another person’s mind. Peeking into their world, experiencing their experiences, understanding their logic.
It builds patience, empathy, and perspective. It forces you to slow down, question, and reflect.
When you read, your brain learns to see connections between ideas. This builds attention, and encourages you to think critically.
When you scroll, everything just whizzes past. The brain learns to skim, to react, to move on. And that difference between reflection and reaction is where wisdom resides.
Books challenge you in a way short-form media never can.
They teach you that meaning often hides behind the effort it takes to understand it; the obvious, the visible is not often the truth.
That’s why reading still matters. It is not just an academic skill; it’s a life skill.
A child who can focus long enough to read, understand, and interpret has developed one great advantage over the others in this distracted world.
Reclaiming Focus in the Age of Distraction
So, how do you reclaim this lost habit?
Start by making reading visible again.
- Let children see you reading, not just for information, but for joy. Let it become an enjoyable activity. Choose a book over the screen.
- Create areas of silence at home where screens are off-limits and replaced them with books. Hard bound, picture books, paperbacks, stories, comics, whatever they like.
- Don’t impose books; invite them. Forcing them into anything will never get the results you want. Make it an attractive, enticing, exciting activity.
- Match their interests. Maybe it’s a comic today, a biography next month, a novel later. Take them to a bookstore and let them decide what they want to read.
- And most importantly, talk about what you read. Discuss the fascinating parts of the book to build interest.
- Share how books have changed you, shaped your choices, helped you in school or work, or offered comfort in chaos.
Show them that reading is not about escaping the world; it’s about understanding it better.
Moment to Reflect
One day those videos will disappear, those trends will fade, and a new algorithm will dictate their feed. Their thoughts, perspectives, reactions will be as mercurial as what they watch.
But what they’ve read will remain with them. It will continue to shape their thinking with the words which had found a place in their heads. Books don’t just fill minds; they form them.
The truth is, information will always be abundant. But what’s required to gain true, long-lasting wisdom is attention. The kind where you’ve the ability to sit with a thought long enough to make it your own.
And this is what reading quietly builds, one page at a time.
If you want your children to develop their thinking and not just react, then reintroduce them to the quiet company of books.
It will become their sanctum of tranquillity in the cacophony of the world they inhabit; it’s where their attention will grow, imagination expands and wisdom flourishes.
