Rewilding Your Attention: How to Read Deeply Again in the Age of Distraction

In a Galaxy Brain podcast episode, writer John Paul Brammer discusses his journey from social media addiction to deep reading. He describes how he 'rewilded' his attention by following curiosity rather than insecurity, starting with David Foster Wallace's essay 'How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart.' Brammer distinguishes between 'muscular attention' (forced focus) and 'pure attention' (immersive flow), arguing that social media traps users in an exhausting 'absolute present.' He advocates treating curiosity like a child—feeding it without judgment—and suggests readers follow the authors that keep appearing in their lives. The episode, hosted by Charlie Warzel, also references a National Assessment of Educational Progress report showing 12th-grade reading scores at their lowest since 1992, with 32% below basic level. Brammer credits his reading renaissance to abandoning Twitter after Elon Musk's acquisition, which freed him to read voraciously across genres, from Clarice Lispector to Simone Weil. He now sees reading as a way to reclaim stillness and generate quality thoughts, contrasting it with the 'language blobs' of social media and AI-generated content.