Hey, it’s Luke from Unwritten Tomes.

It’s been a while. There've been some changes and other side projects – and if you enjoyed reading this newsletter in the past you might want to check out this new issue.

Welcome back to a new look, a new YouTube channel, and a new mission for the publication: how books & stories can relate to our everyday lives.

In today’s issue: What happens when you delete social media and start reading instead of scrolling?

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Based on personal experience

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Like many others nowadays, I owned a pile of books that I wanted to read but for some reason I kept getting distracted.

Looking at my screen time it wasn’t difficult to figure out the problem: social media.

I tried many different methods to try to trick myself into reading more and using my phone less, but I’ve reached a point where I was done with social media – it caused too much anxiety and pressure. So I uninstalled Instagram from my phone and over the last 3 months started seeing many benefits.

One of the first things I noticed was how big the immediate change was. The next day I was already feeling less anxious, focusing on my own priorities rather than my Instagram feed.

Over time, consuming books became the norm. A go-to entertainment format, and while reading Red Rising I got so engaged that I ended up finishing the book at 2 a.m. – just like I used to do as a kid.

The next thing I noticed was my focus at work. When researching longer articles I didn't have as much trouble paying attention and could process information easier. This impacted both my efficiency as well as my mood when leaving the office.

Another closely connected fact is how much you end up remembering from what you’ve read. Especially when compared to watching shorts (I dare you to list 5 reels you’ve seen 2 months ago). Once you spend 600 pages reading about a single idea or narrative, that’s something that can easily stay with you for years – if not for the rest of your life.

This satisfaction slowly became another driving force pushing me towards picking up more titles. A sort of hunger for knowledge and depth that drove me to finally try the dreadful classics and order an English copy of The Odyssey (for those who don’t know I live in Poland and English isn’t my native language).

Now it’s already been 3 months since I quit most of my social media usage. I still log in from my desktop sometimes or use the company account at work. But for the most part social media is out of my life, and it’s only brought me more and more benefits the longer I live without it.

There is way less outside pressure, my inner compass got much stronger, and I finally feel like I’m living my life – focusing on and appreciating what I actually care about instead of what the outside world was feeding me.

So if you’ve ever been thinking about doing something similar and leaving social media – maybe it’s a good time to try it? You can always install it again – but there is a decent chance you will not even want to.

I’ve talked a bit more about this topic in my latest YouTube video.

Thanks for sticking around, if you’ve been a fan of this newsletter before the hiatus you might enjoy checking out the YouTube channel where I’ve been posting more content in the last couple of months.

In the meanwhile, I’ll be working on bringing you more content and more videos.

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Thanks for reading this issue. Now go pick up a book (I’m currently reading Morning Star by Pierce Brown).

~ Łukasz Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes