Have you noticed this?
Smartphones and the internet aren't anything new anymore. They're infrastructure. Everyone carries a screen in their pocket, loaded with news feeds, messaging apps, TikTok, Reddit, podcasts, and now a whole new wave of AI agent apps.
Every spare minute gets filled. Even at work, let's be honest, plenty of us sneak in a quick scroll when no one's looking.
A while back, I went to a public library. I was between jobs, had some time before starting at a new company, and thought I'd hang out at the library and do some reading.
Row after row of desks, and on every single one: a laptop, a phone, or a tablet propped up. Everyone was busy. Busy staring at their own screen.
The funniest part? A lot of people did grab stacks of books from the shelves. But they weren't reading them. The books were piled up as stands, makeshift risers for laptops, phone holders, tablet props. Books in a library had found a brand new purpose: monitor stands.
Most of the people actually flipping through pages were older folks.
The ironic part? I was no better. I walked in with my own laptop, set it on the desk, and stared at it all day. So much for "going to the library to read." All I really did was find an air-conditioned spot to keep staring at my screen.
For a moment, I sort of zoned out. The library was the same library. But the people sitting in it, myself included, weren't really there for books anymore.
Look, I'm not saying devices are bad. I'm a QA engineer. My entire job is poking at systems and screens. I probably spend more hours staring at a monitor than most people. Short videos are fun. AI tools genuinely make work faster. I get it.
But I've noticed something about myself: I haven't had the patience to finish a paper book in a long time.
It's not a time problem. It's a patience problem. I open a book, read a few pages, and I start wondering whether I've got a new notification. Ten minutes in, my hand reaches for my phone on its own. Being completely lost in a book for an hour straight? That feels like something from a past life.
I don't think I'm the only one.
So I want to ask you: do you still have the time, or more honestly, the patience, to sit down and read a book?
Maybe we should try. Pull that dusty book off the shelf. Turn off the phone. Make a cup of tea or coffee. Read for thirty minutes. Just thirty.
Thirty minutes of not staring at a backlit screen. That's it.
I'll go first. Here are a few books on my list:
- Thirty-Six Stratagems — Ancient Chinese military wisdom. Short, sharp, and every stratagem makes you think.
- Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shan Hai Jing) — An ancient Chinese bestiary. Reads like a fantasy world-building doc written thousands of years ago.
- Tao Te Ching — Laozi's 5,000 characters. The more you read it, the more you feel it says everything and nothing at the same time.
- Bhagavad Gita — A philosophical classic from India. A dialogue about duty, action, and the self. Hits different when you read it across cultures.
- Selected Works of Mao Zedong — Whatever your politics, the strategic thinking and the writing itself are worth studying.
Most of these are available in multiple languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and more. No matter where you are, you can probably find a copy.
Now it's your turn. If you've got a book worth reading, drop it in the comments. Bonus points if it has multilingual editions so people across this community can pick it up.
Can't wait to see what you've been reading.
P.S. English isn't my first language. I use AI to polish the writing and smooth out the rough edges. Thanks for reading. ☕ Buy me a coffee
P.S.S. The old series paperback is now available. Buy it here: Amazon - AI, Ego & Regret
Top comments (10)
But not having the patience to finish a paper book is not bad, right? You probably have patience for other things.
That's a fair point, honestly. Maybe patience didn't disappear — it just shifted to different things. I can spend hours debugging a stubborn test case without blinking, so the patience is clearly still there somewhere. I guess what I miss isn't really "patience" but that specific feeling of being completely offline and absorbed in something physical. But yeah, you're right — it's not necessarily a bad thing. Just... different.😂
Not different, the same 😂
Okay you got me there 😂 Staring at a screen is staring at a screen, no matter how noble I try to make it sound. Guess I really do need to pick up that dusty book now.🤣
I mean, "same as everyone" 😂 Not necessarily bad? I don't know.
Oh wait, that's what you meant! Sorry, my English isn't great — I basically rely on AI to translate everything for me, haha. But yeah, we're all in the same boat. Maybe that's exactly why I wrote this post. If none of us are reading, at least we can feel guilty about it together 🤣
bhagavad gita 🔥
Such a classic work!👏
bro you seen my post?
tell me your specs in comments
I’m afraid it might blow your mind. See you in your comment section in a bit 😄
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