By Tabitha Bozeman
I read an interesting article this week that claimed reading for pleasure has become a status symbol. A. Status. Symbol. (At this point, I was clutching my metaphorical pearls.)
I didn’t understand this at first because books are inexpensive, for the most part, and even free at a library. Most status symbols, historically and culturally, tend to be inaccessible, expensive things: luxury cars, designer clothing, tours of Europe. Things and experiences only a subsection of society can afford. Constantly striving to attain more status is a uniquely human trait. Afterall, as Sartre said regarding this existential urge, “Man is not the sum of what he has already, but rather the sum of what he does not yet have, of what he could have.”
The reading-as-status article went on to explain that it is not so much the financial investment in books themselves that conveys status. Instead, it is what the writer described as the performative act of signaling to others that an individual who is reading has time and attention at their disposal to do with as they please. Rather than showcasing financial capital, it showcases social and cultural capital. If someone has time and attention at their disposal, they have the luxury of freedom from the existential worries of daily survival. Not everyone who has time and attention to spare chooses to read. Some may choose other activities: building collections, traveling, oil painting, going to concerts, baking, and so on. Recently, though, reading has become a popular and prevalent status symbol.
This makes much more sense than I want it to. In a world where we are on a 24 hour news cycle, our workplace can contact us any time, everyone knows where everyone else is with tracking apps, and social media demands more and more time and attention to stay relevant, yes – having the time, attention, and energy to devote hours to a seemingly mindless and unprofitable activity like reading is a rarity.
I have always wanted reading to be something my children enjoy doing and look forward to, but I have begun to see it as something else as well. Setting aside intentional time to read–even for enjoyment–is now an important part of self-care and even preventative health care.
For example, reading reduces blood pressure and heart rate, improves sleep quality, and increases potential lifespan. Reading for even just 6 minutes has proven benefits like relaxing muscle tension and lowering cortisol levels. Additionally, the workout our brains get from just reading the stories we enjoy protects and strengthens our neural pathways and protects us from dementia. I saw this in action when caring for my 92 year old grandmother a few years ago. She was reading daily, writing down words she did not know definitions for (or, that she no longer remembered), leaving books with little scraps of paper tucked in them as bookmarks all over the house. She had been diagnosed with dementia for nearly a decade before she passed away, and I believe that her ability to stay as mentally active as she was could in large part be attributed to voracious reading.
Multiple studies bear this out, showing that consistent reading for at least 6 minutes at a time can reduce stress by 68% and lower mortality by 20%. Of those who do not read regularly, 37.4% struggle with mental health challenges, compared to 11.8% of regular readers, and regular readers over the age of 50 live an average of nearly 2 years longer than non-readers.
If you’d like to start reading to experience these benefits, there are some specifics as to what you should read. Magazines, for example, are not as effective as a book, specifically fiction. Being absorbed by a story, known as “narrative absorption,” shuts down the fight or flight response and stops cortisol release. For even more positive effects on your prefrontal cortex, improving social cognition and empathy, you should choose literary fiction. And, for the best nervous system regulation effects and to promote sleep-friendly winding-down, you should choose to read a physical, print book over a screen like Kindle in the evenings. Although benefits begin with as little as 6 minutes of reading, to get the most from reading, you should try to read for a minimum of thirty minutes a day.
Reading, or appearing to be a reader might be a current status symbol, but the positive effects of reading reach far beyond social or cultural capital. Once someone reads a book, it becomes part of them. It colors their perception of life, develops understanding, empathy, and cognitive flexibility; it can even help extend life. Reading does not require massive amounts of time or money, but it can definitely pay far-reaching dividends. Find a story you enjoy and start out with 6 minutes a day until you realize you want to keep reading to find out what happens. Who knows? You might end up like the readers Virginia Woolf describes who get to heaven and “the Almighty [says] ‘Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading.’”
