IN THE MOOD FOR READING?

With a lot more items to consume from a variety of media, a reader has a wide range of options. From deep dives into novels to quick scrolls on phones, here is how Chennai’s readers are changing

- 

DIYA MARIA GEORGE was reading a book when I came across the word 'sniggered'. I picked up my phone to check its meaning.

I ignored a few WhatsApp notifications but got drawn to the Instagram ones. I opened the app and found myself watching a reel of a panda falling off a tree branch, climbing back up, only to fall again. Naturally, I scrolled down to see more. Sent a few reels to friends, got a few back. A reel for a reel, that's the new Bro Code. Minutes, hours, maybe even days went by, and I still hadn't looked up the meaning of 'sniggered'. (By the way, it means to laugh disrespectfully or mockingly) But I convinced myself I'd learned a few things. After all, I did watch reels that taught me that self-care was actually conceptualised by Audre Lorde, and that one track, The Life of a Show Girl, apparently disses Charli XCX. That counts as reading, too, right? Gaining information and all that. I also read a long New York Times article about an author who spent three days in complete darkness. So what does that make me? Have I met my reading quota for the day? Have I stimulated all the brain cells that are supposed to be stimulated? Maybe that's what reading looks like now, scattered and somewhere between curiosity and distraction. I like to think of myself as the 'Lost in Translation' type, the one who forgets what she set out to do but still discovers something along the way. So what are the different types of reading in this dig ital age? Let's find out! The Deep Diver: Your Brain on 'Inception' The vibe: This is your brain in slow, delicious, single-task mode. It's reading a physical book or a long article from start to finish, diving layer by layer into a complex world.

This is 'vertical' reading. You are going deep, exploring the dreams within dreams of a narrative.