When I had the flu this week, I had plenty of time to watch YouTube on my smartphone and read on my e-reader. I did both. The smartphone won most of the times, but the e-reader seemed to relax me more, I felt.
You’d think watching something or reading something has a similar effect on your brain.
However, false.
When you watch something, there’s nothing your brain gets for it’s imagination. So it processes, and learns nothing. It even becomes lazy. And stressed at the same time, thanks to the continuous dopamine shots.
When you read, your brain becomes creative. It needs to fill in all sorts of gaps. Vocal and visual concepts for example. That’s a great training and it’s proven that it lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s.
So, read on.
And (parents,) rethink zombie-ing screens for yourself and your kids.