Sanjana Chopra

education, curriculum, ed policy | facilitator @UNESCO & freelance filmmaker | former @HappinessDelhi @EMC_Delhi @DelEduRevolutn @alohomora_edu | films & trivia

[Sanjana Chopra @chopstopus]

I'll be writing about ideas from the Coexistential Philosophy and how they inspire me, and sharing some insights from life at Manav Teerth. You can find it here: https://t.co/l4fk3aEcHN

Thanks for reading and hope to see you over on Substack!

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

Went down the rabbit hole on this. Your brain treats a physical book like a landscape. It builds a spatial map of the text, the same way it maps trails, rooms, and city blocks. When you scroll on a phone, that map breaks apart.

Seven large-scale research reviews and direct brain scans confirm what you already feel.

A 2023 study in PLOS ONE attached brain-activity sensors to children’s heads while they read the same text on paper and on screen. Paper reading produced fast brain waves, the pattern linked to focused attention. Screen reading shifted the brain into slow waves, the pattern linked to mind wandering and daydreaming. Same kids. Same words. Measurably different brain states.

A separate 2022 study from Showa University in Japan scanned the front of the brain, the area that manages focus and comprehension, during phone versus paper reading. Smartphones sent that region into overdrive, meaning the brain was straining just to keep up with basic processing. Paper reading produced a moderate load that triggered natural deep breathing, which helped regulate brain function and sustain focus. The phone suppressed that breathing pattern entirely.

Since 2017, researchers have published seven major reviews combining hundreds of individual studies. Six of seven reached the same conclusion: people understand less on screens. A 2018 review of 54 studies and 170,000+ participants, literally titled “Don’t throw away your printed books,” found paper outperformed screens across the board for non-fiction. A 2024 follow-up with 49 more studies confirmed it. The gap has grown steadily every year since 2001. Being a “digital native” doesn’t help.

The best explanation is how your brain tracks where you are. Your short-term memory can only juggle about 7 things at once. A physical book gives you constant location cues: the weight shifting from right hand to left, where a paragraph sits on the page, how thick the remaining pages feel. Your brain hands off the “where am I in this text?” job to those physical signals, leaving more room for actually understanding what you’re reading. On a phone, every screen looks identical. Your brain has to track position and process meaning at the same time, and something gives.

A Norwegian eye-tracking study analyzing 25,000+ individual eye movements found screen readers processed text more shallowly. The students had no idea they were reading differently.

In 2019, nearly 200 reading scientists from 30+ countries signed an open letter warning that screen reading was degrading deep comprehension. Since then, Scandinavian countries, among the most digitized school systems on Earth, have started putting physical books back in classrooms.

[CooperBaggs 💰🍞 @edgaralandough]

We are overstimulated and we don't even notice. Netflix while eating. Reels in the bathroom. Music while cooking. Podcasts on walks. We consume by default, not by intention. You keep filling every gap, then wonder why you feel foggy and unmotivated. Boredom and silence are the real growth drivers. They give you space to think and create. That's when solutions show up for problems that have been stuck for months. Leave some room.

[safff @safffering]

u can hate dilli all u want but pls just take an auto ride thru central dilli in october in the evening n then u will understand the hype

[Sanjana Chopra @chopstopus]

Delhi-Ggn travel regulars, is this normal? What are the usual tolls/charges?

[Sanjana Chopra @chopstopus]

@Olacabs drivers charging extra on Delhi-Gurgaon routes - is this normal?

People who travel from Delhi to Gurgaon via cabs regularly - is it normal for drivers to arbitrarily ask for extra 'toll' or 'tax' additions to the fare from you, despite it not showing in your app?

[Sanjana Chopra @chopstopus]

Highly disappointing experience, and worse, one that people have been facing for years. Don't understand why nothing has been done about this. Extra fare isn't a problem, lack of transparency and accountability is.

[Ria Chopra 🐍 @riachops]

In 2017, I sat for ECA admission trials to Delhi University in the English Creative Writing category. I wrote a short story in my final test and ranked first across the university.

I know it's been years & is a long shot but can anyone PLEASE help me procure that story of mine?

[Sanjana Chopra @chopstopus]

@riachops duke of hastings was the og jiju/damaad of the whole khandaan

[Sanjana Chopra @chopstopus]

@UberIN_Support @uber_ind

[Erik Newton @newtonlaw]

I lost my wife to cancer last month — our daughter lost her mother. I’ve hesitated sharing any of this, but there is something I want to record. Fair warning: this is mostly about love.

[Sanjana Chopra @chopstopus]

It has been a privilege to be a part of their journey and watch them grow together.

As they complete 33 years of marriage today, some reflections on love, wisdom, and companionship inspired by their journey: https://t.co/H2Gly2Bglu

[Sanjana Chopra @chopstopus]

One of my earliest memories is watching my parents have their evening chai together.

I couldn’t articulate it back then, but this was perhaps the most important, yet most underrated gift a child could receive from her parents — to see them happy together.