As a book lover, I’m more than troubled when I learn of developments like these: that not long ago, the percentage of American adults who read literature for pleasure reached a three-decade low; that as they progress through their teens, today’s youth are less and less likely to read for fun; that we’ve become so attached to our smart phones that even Google is introducing features to get us to use them less.

Here’s what troubles me even more: I myself have become more attached than I ever could have imagined to my smart phone screen, and this has made me a more restless, impatient, and easily distracted reader. When I read news on my phone, I tend to quickly scan and skim headlines and text, and whenever my interest in a given article starts to wane, I move right on to the next bright-and-shiny. And there have never been more bright-and-shinies than in this digital age.

I believe that the way I take in information on my phone has made me a less committed reader of literature and book-length nonfiction. For example, if a novel doesn’t engage me from the early pages, I’m less likely than ever to try to stick with it, to give it a chance. Also, I sense that I’ve become a more easily distracted reader: if my attention to a book lapses at any point, I’m often tempted by my phone, always available and ready to entertain.

Research by Maryanne Wolf, author of Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, suggests that I’m not alone, and that the scanning and skimming typical of digital reading may be making us less capable of “deep reading” by altering the circuitry of our brains.

For me, the value of deep reading has never been in doubt: to my mind, there are few pleasures greater than immersing myself in other worlds or perspectives. But, as Wolf writes in The Guardian, delving beneath the surface of texts yields far more than pleasure: “internalized knowledge, analogical reasoning, and inference; perspective-taking and empathy; critical analysis and the generation of insight.”

Wolf doesn’t paint an entirely bleak picture of the future of reading: “We possess both the science and the technology to identify and redress the changes in how we read before they become entrenched. If we work to understand exactly what we will lose, alongside the extraordinary new capacities that the digital world has brought us, there is as much reason for excitement as caution.”

For my part, I’ve begun limiting my phone time, and when I’m not actively using my phone, I try to keep it out of sight, out of reach—especially when I’m reading a book. Also, I no longer read books on digital devices, which tend to put a certain distance between me and texts, however eloquent, thoughtful, or poetic. Wolf points to another shortcoming of these devices: they lack the “spatial thereness” of print books–another route to engagement and comprehension.

I’m already beginning to feel less distracted as I read. If I have any other significant developments to report, I’ll note them in this blog.

Now, off to finish that short-story collection …