Do you read?

[Anonymous]

I feel like I have no time to read and even when I have down time, I'd rather scroll TikTok as my brain is fried.

I am envious of my friends who read for pleasure.

[Anonymous]

I used to read a lot before kids (a book a week or more). Then I didn't read at all for many years. Now I shoot to read ~20 books a year, but it varies. I have found that I really only read fiction (or lighter non-fiction). I just don't have the brain capacity for deep, profound stuff or complicated stuff. So lots of mysteries and chick lit. I'm also more likely to quit a book partway through if I don't love it (I used to always soldier on).

[Anonymous]

Consider the possibility that tiktok is frying your brain, and that your brain would be fine and you would have the time, patience and concentration to read if you scrolled less and held an actual book in your hands. Pick up a book. Read a few pages. Repeat this exercise daily until the book draws you in.

[Anonymous]

Is your definition of reading “high brow” stuff? Maybe consider that you’re burned out (many of us are these days) and don’t have the energy to read a novel that explores the alienation endemic in our society or a history of Winston Churchill. Read a romance novel or a mystery.

And if you don’t want to, it’s fine. TikTok for 20 minutes is as valid a way to spend your leisure time as reading for 20 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your definition of reading “high brow” stuff? Maybe consider that you’re burned out (many of us are these days) and don’t have the energy to read a novel that explores the alienation endemic in our society or a history of Winston Churchill. Read a romance novel or a mystery.

And if you don’t want to, it’s fine. TikTok for 20 minutes is as valid a way to spend your leisure time as reading for 20 minutes.

Oh and to answer your question: yes I read. Life is pretty relaxed right now so i do have the time. I don’t have the brain capacity like I used to, so i either read fluffy novels or I listen to audiobooks about history or philosophy or science when I’m driving or cleaning. I also sometimes read uplifting things (today it was my grandfathers blessings) on a kindle but I have to be doing something with my hands while reading because again I just lack the brain power to sit and focus.

[Anonymous]

I’m a sahp to two little kids. I rarely get more than 30 seconds to myself, let alone enough time to read a whole book. During the first year I was able to read during night feedings, but now I try to sleep at night.

Audiobooks, tho, have sustained me through toddlerhood and the preschool years. I go through 3-4 a week.

[Anonymous]

I don’t read very much anymore but I listen to audiobooks routinely. I like that I can listen when doing other things like washing dishes, folding laundry, and walking the dog. I’m listening to 1-2 books a month this way.

Also, like a PP said, I have no qualms about stopping the book if I don’t like it (or the narrator! There are some terrible ones out there). I usually get them from the library.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your definition of reading “high brow” stuff? Maybe consider that you’re burned out (many of us are these days) and don’t have the energy to read a novel that explores the alienation endemic in our society or a history of Winston Churchill. Read a romance novel or a mystery.

And if you don’t want to, it’s fine. TikTok for 20 minutes is as valid a way to spend your leisure time as reading for 20 minutes.

This is good advice. I have been mentally exhausted lately and I am part of a book club and I just have lost interest in some of the esoteric books even asked to read. I just want to pick up a David Baldachi book and relax. I have been planning to take a break from my book club because I’ve stopped enjoying books. So I want to pick up fluff and enjoy books again.

I also can find myself scrolling through TikTok or Instagram mindlessly. I have to force myself to put my phone down and pick up my Kindle. I’d like audiobooks, because I can listen to them when I take a walk

[Anonymous]

I usually read while we watch TV. Mix of higher brow and lower brow stuff - I guess middlebrow, is my brow, mostly. I like audiobooks, too.

I don't read as quickly or as much as I did when I was younger - but I usually get through a book every week or two.

Agree with PP to try reading lighter, easier stuff and see if your brain takes to reading again. Or don't! Life is hard. The world is on fire. if your brain needs 20 mins of TikTok, so be it.

[Anonymous]

No. I'm a bad reader. My mind goes somewhere else as I read and now I cannot see as well as I used to.

[Anonymous]

TikTok gets so much hate but the idea that it’s just trying your brain is not true. Or at least it can’t be frying your brain more than americas funniest home videos or Saturday night life or dancing with the stars.

The truck is getting off it but it’s not as hard as people think. Adults (who aren’t depressed) can do it.

(Of course if you have concerns about data privacy I respect that.)

[Anonymous]

I read every day. Not high brow stuff. No classics or the 100 books to read before you die.

I read whatever my mind wants to use to escape- relationship dramas, thrillers, etc. Easy readers

[Anonymous]

You have to discipline yourself to do it and then you will look to it more often.

I went through a bad period last year into this year where I could not bring myself to pick up a book. Everything I tried just didn't hold my interest. I never wanted to read, just to scroll social media or watch TV. I have always been a reader but I just couldn't do it. I'd killed my attention span and had been using social media to numb myself to all the stress/misery of Covid and everything and I could not get back into it.

Finally broke the pattern in the last couple months. Took two week long breaks from social media (removed them from my phone, blocked them on my laptop even). Wrote a list every morning that include reading (plus other self care things that help me) and if I reached the end of the day without crossing it off, I'd go to bed early so I could read a chapter before I fell asleep. I finally found two books I really loved and devoured them. Now I'm back on track.

Social media (including DCUM) steals your time and attention. You have to prioritize the other stuff you really need because this stuff doesn't serve you. I know I'm being a hypocrite because I'm on here now (I'm using it to distract myself from my kid who is in quarantine -- I should pick up my book, which would set a better example for him too!). But you have to make yourself do it, and then you will find it feeds you more and you will gravitate towards it more.

[Anonymous]

I often read for a half hour before I go to sleep or on the bus. Pre-kid, I would read during the day, but now I find getting interrupted too annoying.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the points made about discipline, and feeling free to just read easy, enjoyable books until you get your reading groove back on. I was always a big reader. Social media fried some of my brain, but it healed a little bit during the early COVID months.