Amazon’s new Kindle is the antidote to our declining attention span
Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” mantra may be one of the worst slogans in history. In an effort to disrupt things, our favorite tech brethren have created products that have the potential to disrupt the foundations of society: election integrity, truth in the media and our ability to focus on anything longer than a TikTok video. Now, however, even as artificial intelligence speeds up this digital demolition derby, the tech industry’s response isn’t to slow down and reflect; it moves even faster. That’s why it’s shocking to see Amazon, a company that helps us buy things faster than ever, offer us something completely slow: a Kindle with a color screen.
Kindle has been around for 17 years. E-readers feel like static, almost outdated technology—not exactly the shiny, attention-grabbing gadgets we’ve come to expect from the tech world, products that come in dozens thousand pixels per inch and the processor moves at our normal speed. the brain cannot understand. And yet, the new color Kindle that consumers have been asking (even begging for) since 2007 is not among them. That’s what makes it so great. I’m not going to do a comprehensive product review where I go into detail about the device, but I will say, the colors on the Kindle aren’t what I found myself wanting. But now, after using it for a few days, I can’t imagine living without it. I can highlight with color. I can see my book cover. It’s brighter. There is a new page turning function that makes it feel like you are actually turning a page of paper. And most importantly, it feels just like that: paper.
But the question is: What took Amazon so long? According to Panos Panay, Senior Vice President of Devices and Services at Amazon, the reason we waited 17 years for color is because the company wanted to make sure that adding color wouldn’t take away from the user experience The real Kindle. In short, Amazon could have easily put an LCD screen in the body of the Kindle to appease users who were in love with color more than a decade and a half ago. But that would take away from the reading experience, Panay said. Instead, they wanted to develop a color display that wouldn’t compromise what the Kindle is fundamentally about: a reading experience that feels like reading, not scrolling.
In an interview this week, Panay told me that slowing down was at the core of every decision about the new color Kindle, which goes on sale this week. “Do you remember what reading is? It’s about learning and understanding. It is born to have patience. It’s very different from scrolling with your thumb as fast as you can,” he told me. “You get a sanctuary or calming effect from reading.” (Panos told me that the Kindle team tested dozens of different screens to find the perfect combination of color with the feel of real paper.)
What I find so interesting about the Kindle (both color and black-and-white) is that everyone I know – no matter how old they are – has a love-hate relationship with their smartphone. (A lot of people have a hate-hate relationship with their screens.) Fancy OLED screens and apps and endless notifications are like a black hole of meaningless interaction. But let me ask you a question: Do you know anyone who hates their Kindle? That’s what I think.
That ethos of slowed-down simplicity resonates not only with the elderly, who, overwhelmed by living in a world of AI this and AI that, yell at those pesky kids to get off the lawn their digital. Amazon tells me that the Kindle just had its best sales year in a decade, largely driven by Millennials and Gen Z, who also seem tired of most other technology making them feel overwhelmed. overwhelming and shallow. Kevin Keith, Kindle vice president, told me that 60% of Kindle sales during this surge were from these young people.
I won’t lie; Part of the reason young readers buy Kindles may be because of BookTok, a wildly popular corner of TikTok where readers share their latest literary obsessions. And some of the things they read made me shudder—ahem, Colleen Hoover—but here’s the thing: They read. Book. Lots of them. “I think what drives BookTok is not just reading in general, but distraction-free reading,” Keith told me in an interview. “People don’t use their phones anymore and they want time off from them. You’re immersed in all the notifications you get—the cool thing about it is we have no distractions, no notifications, no social media, just your books and you’re immersed in it. And that’s why customers keep coming back to Kindle.”
Perhaps humanity is not doomed after all.
It’s worth mentioning that Kindle is not alone in this counter-revolution against distracting technology. The “slow tech” movement is growing: People are buying Light Phones, or dumb phones that only make calls and send texts, as well as analog watches that simply do something weird called telling the time and are even returning to the camera. that forces you to wait and think before each shot (I just bought a used film camera for this reason). These aren’t just hipster productions or nostalgia plays; they are life rafts for those drowning in the endless stream of digital nonsense and the speed at which it is thrown at us. Each of these devices shares the same philosophy as the Kindle: Do one thing and do it well, while getting out of the way without trying to steal your attention away from engagement metrics.
The science behind why we’re drawn to these slower, more contemplative devices is fascinating. Research has shown that reading books—whether on paper or in electronic ink—engages our brains in ways that scrolling through social media cannot replicate. When we read long stories, our brains create complex stories neural networkstrengthen pathways associated with empathy, critical thinking, and deep focus. MRI research has found that the networks involved in perspective-taking and story comprehension remain active for days after we finish reading a book, like mental echoes of the stories we have absorbed.
In stark contrast, endlessly scrolling through social media feeds imposes what neuroscientists call “switching costs”—the mental price we pay for staying connected. keep shifting attention. Every time we swipe to the next post or story, our brain releases a signal a small amount of dopaminetraining us to crave more engaging content while eroding our ability to maintain attention. You’ve probably seen all the endless studies about how social media is ruining children’s lives, with said the surgeon that 46% of children said social media negatively affects their body image. Besides, study found that children and teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of symptoms of depression and anxiety.
