In 2025, there are plenty of things vying for our daily attention: school, sports, television/pop culture drama, family/friends, and perhaps the most consistent- our devices.
Whether it’s the assignments completed on a laptop, TikTok’s viewed on a smartphone, or the latest The Summer I Turned Pretty episode viewed on a mounted flatscreen TV, we can’t escape the digital realm. And while I can’t doubt the impact of digital tools, apps, and processes, it does make me wonder: At what point do we slow down?
Life, especially for 20-something college students, is constant. The responsibilities pile up. For many college students, their idea of self-care is doing a fun skincare face mask and scrolling through TikTok or Pinterest, or maybe it’s playing video games with friends, and it’s typically at the end of the day, before bed.
We’re bombarded with so much stimulation, so much stuff begging for our attention, sometimes it’s easier to just shut our brains off and carelessly scroll.
But are we really relaxing, or shutting down, at all? And how beneficial is it?
The reading that we do on social media only requires our attention for a couple of seconds at a time. Captions on posts, emails sent to and from smartphones, and TikTok’s designed so that viewers can swipe and understand the message, not always needing volume.
It doesn’t help that long-form reading- which includes works over 2,000 words- is often viewed negatively by college students; it’s something that is often associated with textbooks or assigned readings for school.
Long-form reading does have its benefits. According to sleepfoundation.org, reading before bed is beneficial in many ways. It physically relaxes the body and slows the heart rate down. Reading also calms the mind and can aid in more restful sleep.
Neumann University professor and published writer Sara McDermott says reading has improved her life in a couple different ways.
“I love how it introduces new ideas and gets me thinking in new ways,” says McDermott, author of international bestselling novel Wolves at Night.
Despite the positive benefits, the share of people in the United States who reported reading for fun on a given day was 16% in 2023, down from the peak of 28% in 2004 (Astor, 2025).
So, what’s the real reason for this decline in reading for fun?
McDermott credits both social media and streamers.
“I just think people get sucked into scrolling on their phones, or binge-watching streamer content. Even if people intend to read, I think it’s easy to get caught up in either of these things, and then any free time in the day is suddenly drained away.”
In an age where everything is at our fingertips, it’s hard not to get sucked into the act of endlessly scrolling or mindlessly tuning into stream after stream.
Though our world is quickly digitizing before our own eyes, it’s still important to read and write at a high level. Reading is a resource for increasing one’s curiosity, patience, and overall knowledge.
Like I mentioned earlier, there are already plenty of things begging for our attention on the daily. Slowing down to read and comprehend something, even if it’s just fiction, can have an even greater impact than you think.
So, take a trip to your local library, order a Kindle, or even just subscribe to the New York Times (It’s free for NU students!). Invest in self-care that will actually benefit you beyond the time you spend consuming it.
Sources:
Astor, M. (2025, August 20). Fewer People Are Reading For Fun, Study Finds. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/well/reading-pleasure-decline-study.html
Bryan, L., & Bryan, L. (2025, July 24). Reading before bed. Sleep Foundation. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/reading-before-bed
