Reading With Our Brains Turned On

I'm sitting in my big leather recliner, possibly the comfiest chair I've ever sat in, yet I'm fidgeting. I've got headphones on, playing soft, instrumental music, yet I'm easily distracted. There's an open book in my hand, yet my mind wanders, skimming whole paragraphs absentmindedly. What is happening to me?!

Annual reading goals are helping to kill reading, and if we don’t adjust soon, we could lose this very dear joy. I didn't set a reading goal until this year. However, I heard about them back in 2020, at the start of my freshman year in high school, and at a particularly vulnerable time in my life. The boy who introduced me to yearly reading goals was aiming for 100 books a year, and despite loving books, I definitely didn't read that much. To avoid competition and my ultimate