July 12, 2026
Booked and screen-shook
I Learned to Read Again
Man relearns books as commenters confess their phone-brain spiral
TLDR: Sam Kahn says modern life trained him out of deep reading, and he had to fight his way back to books after years of distraction and social pressure. Commenters turned that into a bigger showdown over phone addiction, whether online reading really counts, and whether books are becoming a survival skill.
A thoughtful essay about falling out of love with books somehow turned into a full-blown group therapy session for the internet. In “I Learned to Read Again,” Sam Kahn looks back at being a book-devouring kid, then watching school, social pressure, college, and work slowly squeeze the joy out of reading. His big claim is painfully relatable: modern life trains us to crave constant stimulation, and long, quiet reading starts to feel almost impossible.
But the real fireworks were in the comments, where readers basically shouted, “It’s not just you!” One person bluntly admitted they’re hooked on their phone, computer, and TV and use screens as an escape, even while knowing it blocks them from doing more meaningful things. Another commenter framed books as brain rehab, saying reading may be one of the best ways to recover from screen-fueled dopamine habits. That kicked off the hottest mini-debate: is reading anything online enough, or does doomscrolling a long article on your phone not count the same as sitting down with an actual book? One reader openly wondered whether a long Substack essay, news articles from AP or Reuters, and a real history book are even in the same category.
And yes, there was meme energy too. One drive-by correction turned the title into a joke with a code-style edit: “s/^/How /”—basically, “Cool story, but how did you relearn it?” Meanwhile, a quote from Paul Graham supercharged the drama by declaring that people who still read may soon be the only ones who can think well. Casual!
Key Points
- •Sam Kahn says his reading peaked around age eleven or twelve, when he kept multiple books in progress and viewed books as a route to knowledge and adulthood.
- •He identifies middle school and adolescence as major forces in the decline of his reading, largely because intensive reading seemed socially costly.
- •The essay argues that school structures did not support his strong interest in reading and instead pushed him toward conformity across subjects.
- •Kahn says college culture and warnings about social life made him feel guilty about recreational reading, even though he later observed that others still read for fun.
- •After graduation, he expected work life to end his reading habit, but despite long workdays he resumed buying and reading books, which he describes as overcoming a hurdle.