I read a lot of dead tree books – it's easier on my eyes and after looking at screens all day I want a break. I also tend to find devices distracting, even if notifications are off and I'm reading something – the device itself is a habit trigger for distraction.

But I've noticed that sometimes it will take me longer to get through my stack of books from the library. I'm interested in them, but it made me wonder about my reading speed. There's compelling research that speed reading doesn't really work in the same way as reading at a pace that's comfortable for you – and anyway, I'm a somewhat fast reader.

So I started to wonder about the root cause of my slow reading, and having listened to an interview with Cal Newport recently – and having read a lot generally about distraction – I had a realization: it wasn't my reading speed that was slowing me down. It was self interruption.

Last night I tried some of the basic techniques used in mindfulness meditation – being aware when my mind was wandering, acknowledging the random thought, and gently bringing my attention back to what I was reading. It felt like a form of exercise. Meditation after all is considered a 'practice'.

It made me realize that there are ways to start clawing back the capacity for deeper concentration that has been scrambled by the constant notifications and dopamine rewards of social media, and for me, reading is one of them.

Oh, and I burned through three chapters in relatively short time.