Hi, I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on screen-free reading? I’m trying to go to sleep earlier and so avoiding screens for an hour before I try to fall asleep. I started my first non-digital manga last night (気になっている人が男じゃなかった) and I was super stoked on how much I could read! But there were maybe three or four words in about 10 pages I didn’t know or couldn’t recall the pronunciation of. It bugged me but I was determined not to look at my phone. Should i be making sure i look everything up the next day? Is it somehow a bad habit to read just glossing over gaps? I get kinda tired of making everything into 
study 
sometimes but also want to be efficient with my learning routines 
get a paper japanese dictionary 
You can also write it down, training your writing skills in the process. I think the blue light from a screen is less optimal when trying to sleep. That said, I recently started writing hiragana, and managed to write わ instead of れ, even though my head knew what I wanted to write. So double checking in the beginning is probably required.
You can also put down markers opposed to writing it down.
I really depends on if you can still enjoy the story if you don’t fully understand a sentence, if you want to know everything I think the physical dictionary from bitmapkids suggestion works better. You don’t have to limit yourself to doing only one thing though!
Maybe that’s just various kinds of reading
- Reading that glosses over the gaps. Using only some grammar, relying more on word dots, and connecting the dots.
- Reading that glosses over the reading. Parsing grammar properly, but not yet satisfying for read aloud.
- Reading that pronounces everything. Theoretically (in-one’s-mind), or properly-and-actual read aloud.
Actually, even if you look up everything, it still doesn’t mean you will remember. Taking notes, researching further, or computerized spaced repetition (SRS) might be done for some materials. That would be too much to do for everything in the first place.
Seconding this. I find that index tab stickies are perfect and it also lets you return when you have time. You can also easily reuse them. I don’t think I’ve ever gone through a whole set
If you also wanted to just make 気になっている your no lookup reading, I think that would be fine as well
Thank you for your insights!
Thanks for your replies and help everyone!
One more suggestion: If the main problem is the blue light of a normal screen, an (android based) ebook reader will not have that problem, but you will still have the opportunity to use yomitan, immediately create anki cards etc.
If the issue is more that having a device in your hand makes it very tempting to do other things than to read and/or makes it too tempting to stay up way past your bedtime, ignore my advice
My problem is just the blue light ! I’m naturally a night person and am trying hard to change my circadian rhythm for work. Maybe i can save up towards an e-reader, that sounds like magic. Thanks for your advice!