diff --git a/deck/pager.py b/deck/pager.py
index 0ad34c0..3f2bdb9 100644
--- a/deck/pager.py
+++ b/deck/pager.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from deck.input import input
 
 # detect terminal size
 TERM_ROWS = os.getenv('TERM_ROWS', 24)
-TERM_COLS = os.getenv('TERM_COLS', 80)
+TERM_COLS = os.getenv('TERM_COLS', 53)
 try: # if running on CPython
   TERM_COLS, TERM_ROWS = os.get_terminal_size()
 except: