Let's begin shallow and go deep. Here's a list of reasons why I believe reading to be "better" for us than listening to audio books.
READING IS SEXY
When I meet a woman who actually reads books for pleasure or curiosity about the world, wow! I suspect anyone who values intelligence in their partner may also be turned on to find out they read.
READING MAKES YOU A BETTER PARTNER [IN BED]
Being fully present - focused - during sex, can make for much deeper and more enjoyable sexual connection, right? More on focus below in the deeper end of the pool.
IMPROVES NEURAL EFFICIENCY
When you read, your brain is translating symbols into ideas. That translation takes a certain effort and kind of thought. That kind of thought, done repetitively of course, improves neural efficiency.
GRAMMAR, SPELLING, AND VOCABULARY
Reading also improves grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. You will know more words, deeper meanings of those words, and more ways various words can be used.
DISCIPLINE, FOCUS, and PATIENCE
Next, it can increase your discipline, ability to focus, quality of focus, and patience. I think of reading as a form of meditation. You know how at times you are reading and you finish a page and realize you didn't really take it in because your mind had drifted to think of something else while you were reading? So, you either stop there or, if time permits, you go back and re-read that page with a stronger intent to stay focused on the story and this time maybe you get half way through the page before losing focus. Or maybe it takes four tries. The point is, making the commitment to stick to it is like any other exercise and can be done by anyone. Yeah, even if you have "ADHD".
IMPROVES ABILITY TO EMPATHIZE
Finally, some reading, dependent on the narrative, improves empathy! How? Reading a book that shares the thoughts of a person other than yourself as they experience life, is practice for experiencing other perspectives. I read an article once that made the case that the more "weird" the character's perspective, the more of an "empathy workout" the reader gets. So yeah, read sci-fi to improve your empathy muscles.
BUT I READ 100 FACEBOOK POSTS A DAY!
Obviously, few of these benefits will come in you via jumping from Facebook post to Facebook post all day. This practice is also teaching us to have less of an attention span.
Where was I? Oh yeah.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
When's the last time you read a novel from cover to cover? What was it like for you? Was it hard at first, until you got to know the characters and it got more interesting? At the end did you feel a sense of accomplishment and/or sadness to be saying goodbye to a world and characters you got to know and care about?
Every single point here, except for spelling, is also covered by audio books.
To be consistent with the title, none of them should be.
Try again.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit