Why read books? Why not just read articles or blogs or the newspaper, online?

The first thing many of us – including myself – do right after waking up is to turn on a device of some kind. A mobile phone, laptop, tablet, whatever. You check Facebook, Twitter, or, if you’re feeling less pathetic, your e-mails. And then? You waste a good portion of your morning (at least 15 minutes) taking in all this information that doesn’t really have anything to do with your life. Much like reading a newspaper in the morning (something I also don’t understand).

Internet – yes and no

So now we live in an age where you can’t really work without the Internet. It allows you to work from wherever you please, in many cases. You can now make a living off of writing blogs or making homepages, all things that may be important. But are they important in the real world? Yes. And no.

The Internet as a source of information and a channel of free-flowing possibilities gives you just that: endless possibilities for gathering information. But here’s the drawback: it also gives you endless potential distractions. Is it important to know what your friends overseas ate for breakfast or that they have a hangover? Not so much. Is it important to read about your peers’ progress, what they’ve been doing, new technological advancements, etc. Absolutely. Why? Because this is information you can work with when you’re offline. To advance yourself, it’s important to look online at what’s going on, no doubt. But it’s equally important to go offline and do something with the information you’ve gathered.

Face-to-face is still better than P2P

Of course I could have read about the Frankfurt Book Fair (which I did) – but nothing replaces actually going there and seeing what it’s all about. Reading about other people’s work with lettering makes me turn off my computer, sit at my desk, and draw. It may be true that you can stipulate anything coming out of a screen as “research” (i.e. Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, e-zines, etc). But really, you don’t get the same effect from reading an online article as you do from reading one in a book or magazine. There’s nothing there to distract you, nothing but you and the book. Once you’ve chosen to read it, you can’t just open another tab and read something else. (Which, incidentally, is why I’m totally against e-readers. Pick up a book and live with your decision, people!)

Turn off and reboot

Working, thinking and reading offline allows for a different thought-process. You’re not constantly anticipating interruption. To some people, that’s difficult. But it builds character, allows you to focus, and makes it possible for you to concentrate on your own output. Why not try a 24-hour digital sabbatical? Or, like I do, if you need to check your e-mail daily (because your work depends on it or whatever), then try to ignore screens for as long as you can in the morning. At least that way you can form your own thoughts before they get infested with the world’s tweets, posts, and blogs.

By the way, the image in this post was done by me. My hand-lettering practice has increased immensely since I cancelled cable TV. Surprising? Not so much.
Incidentally, the quote is taken from a book, not a website. It’s from Aaron Dignan’s article “Making E-Mail Matter” in 99U’s Manage your Day-to-Day, a book with insights from 20 creatives on how to live a productive, creative life.