Ubiquitous digital connectivity is a challenge to literary reading for leisure and recreation, and there is a tension between online life and reading concentration. On the empirical basis of a qualitative study on adult readers of literature, in this chapter I explore the tension between the act of reading and the readers’ priorities in today’s era of deep mediatisation. The chapter presents a typology of three attributes to describe the interrelation between disconnection and concentrated attention as demonstrated by literary readers. First, being a literary reader adheres to personal values that lay the groundwork for pride in self-understanding as a reader. Second, the identity as a reader triggers the power to self-regulate digital connectivity. Third, being an experienced reader enforces enduring patience to read, though not without struggle and firm decisions. The identified attributes represent both positively motivating and negatively stressing experiences. Hence, combining modern media life and long-form reading triggers ambivalence and evokes a paradox of attention. This chapter demonstrates how even personally preferred and well-experienced cognitive demanding acts, such as long-form reading, requires attention on disconnection to keep up attention.
The research was funded by Kristiania University College and the Research Council of Norway (grant no. 287563).