Reader's Block

I am exactly the same; why are we like this?

I enjoy doing this. I'm usually thinking about the book I'm reading, so, while it might take me twice as long to finish a book, I also got to experience much more of the book, even if it was just my imagination.

Of course, it's an absolute bitch when it's something I have to read within a certain time frame, like for school or something.

Then you have to go back and reread...it was a big reason why when I took tests back in the day I would do horribly on them. Math, science, and anything that was non literate I would do great on.

For me, I can usually get out of this by taking a walk. No headphones, just listening to my surroundings. Helps me to clear my head. Or a workout.

It's also not just ADHD. That happens to me a lot.

Wait

also fits depression

I feel this one hard.

In my mind, before I can play a game, I need to have lots of time, nothing else that I'm doing later, and the perfect amount of energy to really concentrate on it. Unfortunately, life has gotten busy, so I'm trying to get more comfortable playing for 20min here, 20min there instead of scrolling on my phone.

I partially solved this by getting a Steam Deck and playing on my commutes. I can't say I've been plowing through my backlog, but I'm certainly making progress!

You're describing exactly what happened to me. In elementary school, I read so many books that I would win free books each semester. We had mandatory reading quizzes each month for books of our choice, and high scorers would select a few books to keep from a big spread. I would read larger, more complex books from the 3rd to 6th grades, as they would net me more reading points than simple books. Thus, my (competitive) book reading habit would feed into reading books I received for free, which in turn could be used to take extra quizzes to win more books.

Then, middle school happened. I was stuck reading books I didn't care for, covering topics I was already familiar with, and writing analyses that I was already capable of forming within my head. This continued through high school, where I found that I was so disillusioned with narrative literature that I much preferred non-fiction and educational content. I fell out of love with reading, and I don't think I've finished reading a book on my own time, out of enjoyment, in almost a decade (excluding textbooks and non-fiction).

I just can't find the strength to read through any narratives, as all the busy work ruined reading for me. My least favorite portion of reading for school was being made to fill out entire tables of characters, with details on the mannerisms, presentations, quotes, etc. of each. It was all bullshit.

Because of the hyper focus thing, I had already read all the required reading books. The teachers believed me too, because they saw how many books I was tearing through every year. I would turn in a summary of the book, and then go read something that was "at my level," such as The Divine Comedy, Canterbury Tales, War and Peace, or Dr. Zhivago. When I gave my analysis of those books, I at least tried to make them sound interesting, rather than ponderous.

The upshot was that when I got to University, I didn't tell them I already read the books, I just breezed through the work.

I enjoyed reading this rant, I found it very relatable, even though it sounds like we have quite different academic backgrounds. Nowadays, I read a decent amount of non fiction for fun, but I still struggle with reader's block if I don't feel like I have a reason to read, like a sort of self-given assignment to be studying for. That's probably school's fault too

My mom would have to make me put books down to eat dinner. Then came along 5th grade. We had to read 50 books, each one representing a US state and the states were grouped up in different categories. The books had to be chosen from a pre approved list and the books were anywhere from 6th grade to 8th grade reading difficulty. Then we had to write a full page summary on the book. Which meant on average we were reading more than a book a week. That piled on top of all the other homework the other teachers piled on and it was fucking miserable. I spent almost every school night from the moment I got home to the moment I had to go to bed doing homework, also I had to get up early because I was the first bus stop so yay getting up at 5:30 AM to make the bus. Bonus was I was also the last stop so I got to spend over 2 hours a day on the bus. I usually had so much homework that I'd start doing it on the bus home. Oh and if you fell behind in reading you got punished by staying inside for 2nd recess to read more. By the time I left 5th grade I hated school, I hated reading, I hated teachers, and I hated learning. And I still do to this day. I feel like the education system failed me and I'm suffering for it now.

I resonate with this. To get back into the habit I had to find ways to engage multiple senses: https://smoores.gitlab.io/storyteller/

I have a handful of "low focus" games for podcasts, audiobooks, youtube video essays, etc.

Vampire Survivors, or almost any "bullet heaven" type game works well. Old School Runescape also has a ton of ways to skill grind with minimal attention needed. Turn based RPGs with minimal story are great too.

Played through a handful of Pokemon randomizers and romhacks while binging King of the Hill.

But the king for me for a while was Elite: Dangerous. Hop in my cargo ship, use spansh road to riches to generate a trading route, and binge stuff while flying fron planet to planet in supercruise.

I need to try audiobooks. I generally struggle with auditory input, but that's mostly if I'm trying to dedicate all my focus to it. Games + audiobooks might be my jam

Interesting idea. Which games did you like?

when i really really want to read something ill usually pick up both the audiobook and the ebook so i can actually fucking focus on it.

Look at the sub you're on

Don't forget getting ready to get ready to read the book.

I have an e-ink ereader (Kobo Libra Colour) that makes it way less intimidating. Just turn it on any time and read just as much as you can whenever you find a moment.

I don’t know if this only makes a difference for me, but in case others find it useful: I use an e-reader and set it to have very large font size, resulting in a small amount of content per page. For some reason, when I spend too much time on a page, my mind starts to wander, but if I’m moving on to the next page quickly, I feel more engaged and stay with it more easily.

I second the ereader suggestion. Since buying one I've been reading at the same insane rate I used to when I was a bored kid. It's a lower barrier to reading when there isn't a massive pile of books infront of you.

less screen time.

train your brain to stop expecting the instant gratification that your phone brings you.

I'm both. Somehow. I apparently switch between them.

You might try out FBReader. It has lots of options to customize it, and you can store your books in Calibre where it can access them via OPDS instead of getting locked into some online BS like Google.

Got the A-1 iPad mini for reading and never installed Youtube on it. It is my dedicated reading tablet and I love it. Usually I wouldn't buy Apple products, but the new processor had me feeling a bit excited. The Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Fire 13" both had glaring issues and reading the internet's negative views on android tablets left me feeling meh. The better kindle e-readers are really expensive too so I thought to just buy a fully functional high quality tablet instead.

Try audiobooks. It got me out of that kid of block. Can listen during showers, commutes, doing chores. It's great!

Are you able to give a short summary what it's about? I've had a few people saying it's fantastic and very special to them but I didn't really get much of an answer why. And trying to find anything on the internet hasn't been successful to the point where I get what's so appealing about it.

I could of course just try reading it for myself but it's currently in a backlog along with quite a few other books :P

I'm a functionally illiterate software developer