Why Reading is Hard and Worth It

As someone who had access to digital entertainment at a very young age, I never had much interest in reading books. Apart from obligatory school readings, I could count the books I had read until last year on my fingers. It wasn’t until I joined Kmino’s “zero to hero” program that I really tried to develop the habit of reading. Within a four-month period I have already read three books and started reading the fourth. This article reflects on what I believe to be the benefits of developing a reading habit and my struggles while doing so.

First of all, I would like to start with a disclaimer. Books are just a form of media. We should always keep in mind that the message itself is probably what matters most. A YouTube video can be deeper and more meaningful than a book. Having said that, we cannot underestimate the importance of how we deliver our message. I believe each form of media has its advantages, and we should aim to explore them.

Books are made to last

Traditionally, books are made with the intention of outlasting their authors. This stands in stark contrast to today’s more ephemeral media. When a piece of content is meant to capture attention for a brief moment, there is little incentive to refine it extensively. Content creators often prioritize speed and relevance over accuracy and depth, and in many cases, they simply do not have the time for careful revision, even if they wanted to.

The slower pace of book publishing encourages a more deliberate and thorough process of editing and revision. Manuscripts typically go through multiple rounds of feedback, corrections, and refinements before they reach the reader. In addition, publishing houses often release new editions over time, incorporating corrections and updated perspectives. While this does not guarantee quality, it significantly raises the bar.

This emphasis on longevity also shapes how authors approach their work. Writing a book implies a commitment to ideas that are meant to endure and to remain meaningful beyond the context in which they were written. As a result, arguments tend to be more carefully constructed, sources more thoughtfully considered, and claims more cautiously made. For the reader, this means that when choosing a book on a given subject, there is a higher chance of coming across carefully crafted information. Compared to content optimized for immediacy, books offer a medium where ideas are given the time and structure needed to mature.

Less stimuli

Reading is a quiet form of media. When you sit in a quiet room with a book, the text is the only stream of information competing for your attention. There are no background sounds, no visual cuts, no flashing prompts asking you to engage with something else. The experience is intentionally sparse, and that sparseness is part of its strength.

Compare this to watching a short video on platforms like TikTok. Often, a story is being told in the main frame while music plays in the background, captions flash on the screen and sometimes even two videos playing at the same time. The video is designed to hold your attention for just long enough before pushing you to the next one. Even when the content itself is interesting, your attention is constantly being pulled in multiple directions.

This difference matters. With reading, there is no need to divide your focus. The lack of competing stimuli makes it easier to stay with an idea long enough to understand it. In contrast, short-form videos are designed for stimulation rather than comprehension. They keep you engaged by overwhelming your senses, not by giving your mind space to think. While reading a book, there is nothing pushing you to rush through it. You can stop, reread a paragraph, or simply sit with a thought. I have found that mental stillness to be both constructive and pleasant, and I haven’t felt something like it anywhere else.

Choosing to slow down is choosing attention

Are you the type of person who needs a video playing in the background when you do household chores? Or the type to use your phone when watching a TV series? I know I am. I would bet most people nowadays are. It is a given that attention spans are getting shorter and our environment is designed to encourage this. What I have enjoyed most about my reading experience is the time I took to slow down. Reading makes it easier to focus on each point before progressing to the next. The book doesn’t play by itself like audio would, you have to make the effort to read it.

Especially when reading technical or self-help books, I like to keep pen and paper handy to write down the ideas that impact me the most. Not only do I have a break to think about what I just read, but I am also forced to analyse whether I really understood it when I try to convey the ideas with my own words. The impact of that is information that stays with you far longer than it would have had you just heard it quickly on a video. But even though reading helps you to concentrate more, it ultimately depends on the reader. You can just as easily read through books at a quick glance and not stop to absorb what lies there. From my experience, you don’t get as much from it if you don’t slow down.

Making it sustainable

By now you must have noticed already that what I found fascinating about the reading habit has all to do with taking your time to do what you need, from the people that produce the book to the ones that consume it. As stated at the start of this article, this is not to say that any format is superior to another, but I do believe in the importance of variety. As we live different experiences we build a broader repertoire, which will allow us to deal with each situation more appropriately.

However, developing a reading habit was not easy. I would say my main difficulty was getting started. The initial effort of just opening the book and starting to read can be hard on its own. It becomes even harder when you start to add conditions and requirements to start reading, like a certain place, position or time. Even though I recommend reading while writing down what you deem important, that can end up working against you. In my own experience, I started to notice that at times I was imposing myself with unnecessary conditions in order to get started. Be perceptive to small things that can get in the way of your goal.

Learning to adjust my expectations was an important part of maintaining that habit. I found that concerning myself with how much I read a certain day was not as important as reading regularly. I also found that sometimes we just need things to be easy. When not in the mindset for a more technical, difficult book, picking a lighter novel is a good way to engage in the habit.

This flexibility helped me reframe reading not as a rigid discipline, but as a practice that can adapt to context. By lowering the barrier to entry, I made it easier to return to reading regularly. Over time, this approach reduced resistance and made more demanding reading feel less daunting. Maintaining the habit, I found, was less about forcing concentration and more about creating conditions in which reading felt sustainable.

In the end, reading proved to be hard for many of the same reasons it proved to be valuable. It asks for time, attention, and a willingness to slow down in an environment that constantly pulls us in the opposite direction. Reading did not improve my focus overnight, nor did it always feel effortless, but over time it taught me to be more intentional with my attention. That shift in how I relate to my attention is what ultimately made reading worth the effort.