<p>In 1998, psychologist Roy Baumeister and his colleagues conducted their famous experiment with chocolate cookies and radishes. They divided participants into three groups and asked them not to eat anything for three hours before the experiment. The first group was given chocolate cookies and radishes but told they could only eat the radishes. The second group was given both chocolate cookies and radishes and allowed to eat both. The third group was not given any food at all. After that, all three groups had to solve unsolvable puzzles, and the researchers were interested in how long they would last. Unsurprisingly, the first group, which spent all its willpower resisting the cookies, gave up the fastest.</p>
<p>What does this have to do with reading? The TV in a prominent place in the living room is like a plate of chocolate cookies. We are tempted by so many 'tasty' TV shows that we lack the willpower for books.</p>