# Chateau de la Tobler

## Tuesday, April 14, 2009

### Why I read books less often

(Warning: possibly boring navel-gazing ahead)
Over the last several years, I have found myself reading books less and less often. In my "heyday" I was knocking out between five and seven books a week--more in the summer. After I married (gaining a husband and a laptop), I found myself reading books less, but not dramatically so. The big change came after I became a mother--suddenly I would go three or four days without picking up a book. Sometimes even a week or longer. And it's been this way for the past five-plus years.
I'm actually pretty sure that I am not reading less--I'll bet I spend as much time reading words as I ever did. But why the drastic change?
Some of it is directly related to nursing babies. It is not easy to nurse a baby and read a book at the same time--in fact, with newborns, it's darn near impossible (at least for me). It's much easier watch a television show or movie, talk on the phone, or read a computer screen (which doesn't have to be held open, nor pages laboriously turned).
Some of it is because of the explosion of the internet. There is so much information out there--and you all know how much I love information (sounds so much more respectable than calling it trivia). And my passion for politics is more easily fed by the up-to-the-second news found online.
Some of it is because of my laptop. Before, sitting at the computer was a bit more of a task, not so much of a relaxing thing. But now I can be just about anywhere with my computer (inside, at least--outside doesn't work so well, unfortunately, because my screen doesn't really work in bright sunlight).
And some of it is because as my children have gotten older, it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to sustain the train of thought necessary for reading new books. ARGH! It is a whole lot easier to look up and answer Ezra's endless questions, or admire Mercy's latest dance moves, or give Gideon one of his needed "a-kith and a-hug" when you are reading a short blog post, or a brief article from the newpaper. I find myself more frustrated and less patient if I'm reading a new-to-me book while taking care of my children. (And, really, when am I not taking care of my children?)
Have any of the rest of you discovered changes in your reading habits as you've gotten older/changed jobs/etc?

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