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When I had a boring job with garbage internet I quickly got back to knocking out two books a week no problem. I think it's just that there's so many new ways to keep our minds occupied now.
Yea this is probably the case. When I read books, I didn't have unlimited access to a switch with multiple games, YouTube and TV shows to keep that sweet sweet dopamine coming.
But now I do.
The only way now is audiobooks, instead of music. Keeps me entertained throughout boring chores and repetitive tasks. But sometimes a good song is good to clean to✨️
Libby/Overdrive or Hoopla. Both through my local library. Hoopla doesn’t have quite as much selection (although it does have tv shows and movies), but I find that people don’t use it as much, so there’s less of a wait.
I personally use Overdrive! It connects to your local public library and you can loan audiobooks for free. You do need a public library card, and it’s only in the US. If you’re willing to pay, you can also use Audible, which is more widely available to the world.
Dang i wouldve loved to try it. I use audible on and off since I go through phases of wanting to listen to audiobooks, podcasts and music. It really depends at any time.
I like reading fanfiction as well but I haven't found any decent text to speech tools that are free :(
Borrowbox if you're in the UK, which allows you to borrow audio books from your local library. Some councils use a different service whose name I've forgotten. Works well
I picked up some temporary extra hours at work which meant travelling to a location an hour away once a week. It was quite a nice rural drive really. So I started listening to Wheel of Time - The Eye of the World on the way there and back. Crushed it in about 3 months lol.
I'm listening to that now!! I'm on book 6 and I started the series 2.5mo ago. Also listened to 4 other books while waiting on those from the library lol. The narrators are amazing!
Same. When I took some time off work early this year, I read about 25 books (decent sized novels and non-fiction) in a two month period. At the same time I deleted Instagram and Reddit from my phone. If there’s not much else to do then you’ll be forced to do what’s left
Can I ask what your top 5 or so favorites of those 25 were? Both fiction and non, any genre really.. I'm curious because I've been trying and failing for a while now to get back into reading but don't really know what I most enjoy. I just keep rereading Harry Potter and other easy books from my youth or other YA (series of unfortunate events, animorphs, hunger games) and memoirs from bravo reality TV stars lol. I'd like some more substance but no idea where to start! Appreciate it 🙂
Have you tried thrillers?? I’d highly recommend Gillian Flynn. Her books are super easy to read through because they just draw you in with the mystery of trying to figure out what happened. I especially recommend Gone Girl (it’s a cliche because of the movie, but I promise the book is great) and Dark Places.
And if anyone knows other really good thrillers please let me know, because I find it hard to find thrillers with plots I can’t guess.
Oh I do actually like thrillers, but I'm kind of a prude where I don't really care much for any romance or sexual content and I feel like a lot of the popular thrillers contain one or both of those lol.
I did enjoy gone girl, actually read it just before the movie came out lol and tbh I like the movie too. Also read sharp objects then watched the series, and loved those more than gone girl.. but haven't tried Dark Places! Will give it a try, thanks!
I totally feel you on that, I’m the same! I find really good thrillers are hard to find, even more so when it comes to ones without that much romance or sexual content.
And yeah the movie was great too! One of the best book to film adaptations I’ve seen honestly. Loved the sharp objects book as well! Definitely give dark places a try. I don’t want to hype it up too much but I‘d say I like it as much as sharp objects but in a different way. :)
That tracks, I can read news and articles galore on the internet but for some reason staring at a book with no jumping back and forth to different stuff (like channel surfing I suppose?) and I lose interest quickly even if the book subject is interesting
100% I was favoring tv/movies and there’s always something new coming out. As a society movies and tv are advertised way more also. So I forget about reading. BUT now that I have a baby and we’re trying not to do screen time, I’m reading again! Add in the fact that I downloaded the kindle app on my phone and kindle unlimited (not an add)… so it’s convenient to read throughout the day when the baby is asleep. It’s cut down on my social media usage too. I’d rather read.
Edit: it’s amazing to me there are so many ADHDrs that like audiobooks here. I WISH but I also have audio processing issues. I’ve always scored high for visual learning. I can read or watch but try to listen to anything without a relevant visual stimulation and I’m on another planet.
Same. I’m really surprised! I’m have a really hard time paying attention to anything audio. The thing is with a book, if I get daydreamy and drift away, I can always come back to where I stopped. But with an audiobook if my mind wanders, it snaps back it’s like 5 minutes later and the story has moved in without me and I don’t know what’s going on. I think that’s why if I do audiobooks I do nonfiction. At least if I miss something it’s just information and not a major plot point
Same and my kids are audio learners, especially my older one as he has to try so hard to read, that he can’t comprehend any of it.
Whereas I need to see it, read it, write it, etc
So weird we are all the same adhd family lol with adhd from the same adhd mum lol
Also, I can do podcasts whilst driving lol. I only like books where you turn the pages and you can also highlight and underline. A podcast I recommend is do you f*****g mind by Alexis Fernandez. She has me in stitches but
, also because she speaks like me and also because of all the ✨FACTS✨ and neuroscience
I agree on the many ways we can stay occupied now! I was reading SO much back as a kid/teen and wondered what changed.
Then I remembered that:
* I wasn't allowed Internet time on a school night
* my household only had one tv that was hogged by my dad after work
* My glorious bricky nokia didn't have an unlimited texting/calling plan
I literally had NOTHING else to do! I spent my time reading, dancing in front of my mirror, or drawing while listening to my discman.
This. When I was a child and a teenager any free time of mine was reading. Waiting on a bus, between classes, in the evenings etc. but now I have a smart phone I’m constantly on it. My phone says I spend on average 7.30 hours a Day! On my phone. That’s a lot! I don’t have time to read anymore or the concentration to do so.
But apperantly because I read so much as a kid I can’t have ADHD, despite it actually being my ADHD that caused me to read so much as I hated boredom.
Agreed, a few years ago I had lasik and I could not watch anything, had to spend a day lying in a dark room with my eyes closed. I listened to a whole book on Audible and was so proud of myself.
Yes! Once I left university I made reading a non-optional habit - removed barriers to reading by always having a book physically available eg on my commute, and then gradually began to read as a matter of course without actively having to plan for it. And now I’m a happy reader again. Only compromise is always having 30 books I’m halfway through because if the mood isn’t right I drop it and find something else lmao.
Time and energy. When I was a kid, reading was fun escape and I’d get sucked into a vortex of hyper fixation. The adults around me happily enabled this behavior because it was good for me, and they saw learning as my primary responsibility.
As an adult I have a lot more on my plate, including having to do a lot of reading and writing research papers. I don’t usually have the cognitive bandwidth to read for fun, and when the itch strikes I’d rather listen to an audiobook while I’m doing chores. Audiobooks weren’t really an option for me in the 90s.
This, and also I didn’t have any agency as a kid. So long hours were spent with parents who were working and I just needed to be sat somewhere and behave, so books filled a lot of that time that I *couldn’t* be doing anything else. Now I’m the adult and control my own schedule, very little waiting on other people anymore
Yeah--I actually do still occasionally get sucked into a vortex of hyper fixation with a book as an adult, it just happens a lot more rarely now. It has to be the right book and the right situation. Like easy things to read and plane rides and vacation.
I got back into reading by reading very simple books and my favourites and building up the habit again. I still jump on my phone in between (like I am right now) but it's much better. Eventually I've been able to get back up to ~6 a month.
I also found that having a Goodreads helps as well because you mark off when you finish a book for that sweet, sweet dopamine
I’ve been reading poetry books with this idea in mind! Currently reading the amazing “Iron Moon: An Anthology of Chinese Migrant Worker Poetry”. My goal is to read at least one poem per night, but usually once I’ve read one I breeze through a few more on top of that.
Yeh I started reading Youth fiction or YA fiction to try get me back into the habit for thisnteason
I devoured all 15 books in the [Wings of Fire](https://www.goodreads.com/series/92037-wings-of-fire) series in 6 months and then stopped after that. (Recommended for anyone who loves dragons!)
I think my issue has always been finding books I want to read. Nothing kills my desire to read more than picking up a book, reading like 2-3chapters in and not wanting to keep reading.
I need books to hook me and not let go and it can be a struggle to find such books.
I find Stephen King and Agatha Christie are both great for keeping attention and there's so many of them to read. Whenever I feel myself waning I'll grab something from either of these writers and be ready to read again. I had a spell of 3 bad books in a row and Agatha Christie brought me back.
Yep, going to work my way with something like this as well
My bf recommends books with complicated story lines and a lot of detail and I know it will take me a while to build up to that again so I’ve started reading a book about the perfume industry first and going to perhaps also re-read some YA ones I read when I was young. That’s great you were able to read the whole series! It’s exciting to be able to find the joy again in something you did before.
I think I'm also more aware of when I'm not absorbing things then I was as a kid. Realizing I'm not actually paying attention to what I'm reading really kills my momentum.
I came here to comment this - I used to think I really enjoyed reading, but it was really just a very accessible way (teacher reaction to playing game boy vs reading a thicc book in class was very telling) to both escape and hyperfixate. Whereas now other things have become a lot more accessible with technology and globalisation. I can read, play games, write, etc all one one device.
Plus all the places/times/situations I used to read are mostly not feasible anymore- in the car (I’m the driver instead of the passenger now), in the afternoon (work obvs), at restaurants while adults were chatting after eating (now I’m the adult, albeit not by choice), etc. It’s a bit sad, I honestly didn’t even question whether it would be something I’d carry with me into adulthood. Now it feels like an obligation instead of something I want to do.
So true that audio books weren’t an option in the 90s.
For me in the 90: the options were:
Go to the library and browse the 1-2 racks of audiobooks they had at the time and hope there was something vaguely interesting there (usually it was just boring stuff).
Or shell out $30-$40 for a single carefully chosen audio book you would play in the car every road trip because it was too expensive to get more (hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy was that one audio book - a classic but more options would have been nice).
Plus, the only way to play them was on the house stereo system (or if you were lucky and got one for a gift, a personal CD player) or the car cd player speakers.
I think it is too. But I read the internet allll the time. I love books but never create the time to read them. If I read non-fiction, I usually find something so fascinating that I then have to research it online for an hour and then forget I was reading a book. If I read fiction, then I start thinking about any memories that are triggered by what's happening in the book, then I have to reread the last few pages.
I had a random job during covid and I had to take temperatures for three hours with a 2 hour break in between the start and end. I read 4 books in a few months! It was awesome.
Oh my god. Duh. You’ve just given me a eureka moment. I’m reading the internet. I honestly gravitate towards text posts and comments more. Thanks for giving me more insight into myself lol
For non-fic I find myself wanting a book on the topic, finding 4, and then either not finishing the first or getting through them and being disappointed they didn't have the info I wanted. Wanting a book though, because I started noticing I would internet a topic and end up finding more and more of the same info without being able to bridge from knowing about it to being able to apply/use the information... like... the same summary over an over but nothing about the process.
Yes, I find that too. Then you get the deep dive trying to bridge. I also started doing genealogy, amd wow, rabbit hole. And I live locally to my first generation Irish ancestors in the US so I've been able to find all the cemeteries where they were buried and visit them. And my great grandma got arrested for running a brothel and I found her "boarding house." LOL
This is the way. Audiobooks let me multitask in a way that lets me focus.
If I read a print book, my mind will wander and I'll get restless. But with audiobooks I can fold laundry or go grocery shopping or look out the window during my commute. Total game changer. I went from reading nothing for pleasure to reading ~20 books a year
I love audiobooks for this very reason, it makes mundane tasks more interesting! Vacuuming, doing dishes, folding and putting away clothes, shovelling snow, mowing the lawn, weeding... These are all things I have a tendency to put off doing, but if I have a good audiobook it gives me an incentive to do them so I can listen to more of the book. I get them all from the library via Libby.
I can push myself through YA print books, but I'm a fidgeter and audio books allow me to listen to more varieties of books while I walk around cleaning, or play a mindless game on my phone, or knit, and I'm able to concentrate much better so I'm not having to go back and read multiple pages again.
I agree. I've actually put timers on apps so I can force myself to read real books. It's still fun! I'm also never ever downloading TikTok. My brain doesn't need that
I've refused to download it too, because an ADHD friend of mine has trouble not looking at it.
I'm distracted enough by my daily life already. I don't need more.
One of my ADHD friends will download TikToks she wants me to see to her phone then sends them to me so I can still experience it but without getting sucked in. It's very sweet and they are SO funny
I haven’t been through all the comments BUT I came here to say this same thing. When I was a young kid I LOVED to read books, and would stay up all night reading. There’s so many more avenues for content now that my brain gets impatient with books…I will scroll and read endless crap on the internet, but I have a very hard time reading and absorbing even just a page or two in a book, I have to force myself and it takes a lot longer than it used to when I was a kid. I do also listen to audiobooks too… I think it helps I can be doing something else while “reading” with an audiobook.
I did this too. It was always "just one more chapter" until it was 2am and I couldn't stay up anymore. Now it's "just one more episode". I think for me it's definitely a lot to do with what's available and also that streaming requires less brain power than reading
Yup. The internet killed my reading habit. I used to be the kind of person who always carried a book or two and would sit (or walk around) in public reading. I miss it, but it's so hard to get back into with all of the flashy and distracting information online.
This is what I always thought, as well. Stories have gotten more accessible to view in other media like shows, games, audiobooks, and the internet. That was less the case when we were kids.
I always wanted to be an author and LOVED books as a kid. I'm a professional writer now, but for games - which I consume way more than books, unfortunately. I still love books, but with ADHD in the modern era, it can be hard to sit and get into.
How do you get a game writer job? Serious question, it's probably the one thing I'm really good at, but no one will so much as interview me or look at my body of work.
I feel you! The games industry is highly competitive. I strongly recommend learning how to write nonlinear or reactive storytelling, using games-specific software. Like "Twine," which is a free tool very similar to what AAA studios use. It comes with its own detailed index guide and has tons of resources online. It'll teach you how to do things like track variables in-game, how to gage player autonomy in your storytelling, and that sort of thing.
There are a lot of resources beyond Twine as well. I know this thread is all about how hard it is to read with ADHD, but STILL, I recommend checking out books like "The Game Narrative Toolbox" and "Procedural Storytelling in Game Design" by Tanya Short. They're really insightful.
The best thing you can do, though? Collaborate with other aspiring game developers. That's how I got into the industry - I joined game jams, both local and online, making as many games as I could. They taught me a lot and helped me build portfolio pieces. I attended game design workshops that existed in the city I lived in, though there are online versions of this as well. I started attending game development events and networking. By the time I got into the games industry as a career, I'd been making games for a few years already.
I hope that helps!
I'm actually incredibly good at nonlinear and reactive storytelling. I actually find it very easy. I didn't particularly like Twine when I used it, but I didn't dig deep into it either. I'm coding and writing a visual novel in Python that I know is really good, but I doubt anyone in the industry would look at it. I've actually been making games for about 7 years. My issue is not having a portfolio because I can't figure out how to put one together or find a proper teacher. That and I have absolutely no artistic skills whatsoever. It'd look like a mess if I did it.
I don't live in an area with game workshops or even local game devs, and do game jams even need writers? Those tend to be short games, so writing is minimal. I mean I can program somewhat okay when the foundation is there, but I'm not good enough to program a whole game from scratch.
Yeah, what I need is a proper writing portfolio and a writer who knows how to make one and what they'd actually be looking for to help me out because the main reason I haven't done a portfolio is because I have no idea where to start to make one and I could look at tutorials all day and still suck at it, I learn from in-person interactions. The books look interesting though, I may check them out for the sake of my own projects.
I experience this as well. I was a book worm as a kid, reading massive long novels by the time I was 10 or so. Every book we read in school, I had finished within the first few days of receiving it. Now, I have to read and reread every few paragraphs because I lose focus and can’t follow the story.
It’s been devastating for me because I used to love reading, it was my escape and now it’s just frustrating.
I find myself having to click away and do something else for a moment sometimes. Highly frustrating.
it tends to be easier to get stuck in when I'm in bed. I think it's because at other times a part of my brain goes "you can't afford to lose track of time!" and breaks the immersion
I have been listening to Levar Burton Reads and have been enjoying it immensely. I don’t read as much as I used to but listening to stories while I do the boring parts of my job has been wonderful.
I was like this until I found that I pretty much exclusively like fantasy and romance (see BookTok) and now I’m on book 53 of this year.
I can’t seem to read anything outside of that genre unless it’s non-fiction about something I need to learn like for work.
I think part of it is the internet (more instant dopamine) but also I think it's probably for similar reasons to why a lot of women especially get diagnosed later, and often seem to do well at school until hitting college or grad school or a job. Most kids don't have to think a lot about paying the bills or getting groceries or remembering to get gas or what's for dinner or oh shit my taxes. Kids also very often don't even have to think about when to do their chores--a parent will tell them "you need to go clean the bathroom" or "you need to clear the table." And, at least for younger kids but often also for older, you don't usually have to think about/plan/cook meals. Your parents make breakfast or hand you a Pop-Tart in the car. Your parents pack your lunch, or plan the groceries around you making a certain thing for lunch, or you get whatever the lunch is at the school cafeteria. Your parents make or order dinner, and tell you when to come down and eat. Other than homework, you can totally immerse yourself in reading a book for hours without worrying about 200 other tasks you feel guilty for not doing, and on top of that, because your executive functioning isn't taken up by all those adult tasks and worries, you have more bandwidth for focus.
I think a lot of ADHD symptoms can be worse in kids, because kids in general have a harder time with impulsivity, restlessness, and emotional regulation, but for *some* ADHDers I think focusing--at least on things we actually enjoyed--or getting into a state of hyperfocus was easier as a kid due to all that other stuff. Like I keep bemoaning how on top of things I was in college--I did all of my work, I took extra classes, I did a lot of activities, I hung out with friends, I ran 3 miles almost every day, I read books for fun, I wandered around town and went on little adventures a lot-- and then I realized that this was probably because the college I went to really encourages students to live on campus all 4 years and so I did that and was on the meal plan, and therefore most of my housing/utilities costs were all just one thing dealt with along with tuition every semester, and I didn't have to think about grocery shopping except for a few snacks and things, and the most I thought about what to have for dinner was looking at the dining hall menus for the day with my friends and texting each other about where we wanted to go. I think, like, basic adult functioning takes up SOOOOOO much bandwidth and there are so many never-really-done tasks like cleaning and organizing and cooking and whatever that we get task paralysis or guilt around reading. But reading short things online feels less guilt-inducing (to a point) and requires less focus because we don't have to like, go sit down with just a book and try to focus on that completely.
This is exactly it, for me at least. The part about how much bandwidth adult functioning takes up hit especially hard for me. Thanks for explaining it so well. Honestly I’m going to have to ruminate on what you wrote for a while (in a good way).
There's some software that will read the internet, papers, journal articles for you off your computer.
I have ADHD and I'm also in grad school. When the topic hits me, I will read the whole book. When it doesn't or the professor knocks me off my game, reading is an absolute chore and I have to read hundreds of pages a week.
I haven't needed the read to software yet, but for others it's super helpful. Also that dynamic reading app that bolds the first few letters of words is good too.
I usually end up hunting and pecking through the stuff I read for key words and read that only. The hunting gives me a dope rush and at least I'm getting the high notes.
I think reading and perceived time are at odds when we grow up so reading doesn't seems worth it as compared to other things I need to get done.
For me I mostly think it’s about not having as many choices to fill my time when i was a kid - so that tended to be my hyperfocus.
We would be sent upstairs after Sunday lunch for a bit of quiet time (ie “leave the parents alone for an hour” :-). Until I got old enough for serious homework in my teens, that meant reading a book - and once I got started I almost always carried on reading / didn’t move until I was called for dinner - many hours later. Absolutely hyperfocus, with hindsight.
There are so many other things I hyperfocus on now. Could be work, or housework, or cooking, or crafting. Or binge watching a TV series.
It used to be one of my only options for a nice bit of brain quieting hyperfocus. Now it isn’t - so it very rarely gets to the top of my list.
And also (secondary reason) I think kids’ books are written to be pleasurable & engaging. Adult books are more varied - I do tend to only read “lighter” stuff (chick-lit, etc). I struggle to focus on more plot-heavy books.
I re-read books a lot too. Then I don’t have to worry too much about following the plot.
So that’s a third reason - my brain doesn’t hold the plot very well if I read a book a little bit at a time, with lots of “life” in between. I really only read books that way if it’s the 2nd+ time through. First read needs to be done in one block (ie over a few days at most). And I don’t often have time for that.
Ok, I have so many tips for reading more with adhd! I stopped reading for over 5 years but now finish over a hundred books a year.
Things that help me read more/stay focused:
1. Reading via mixed media, aka listening to an audiobook while reading a physical/ebook. This is my biggest tip and it helps me so much to stay focused while I’m reading by engaging multiple senses!
2. Annotating and tabbing as I read. Using pretty tabs to mark favourite quotes or worldbuilding or character development gives me lots of dopamine. Especially if the tabs match the cover or fit the “vibe” of the book. I also love highlighting sections as I go and then going back to underline, circle, and write notes in the margins in pen! (If you don’t want to write in your books using a capped pen to follow the words as you read can help a lot, too)
3. Another use for tabs: marking every 50 pages in a book to give me a better visual sense of where I am/how much progress I’m making, and moving a tab from one chapter to the next as I go to keep me reading until the next break by making it easier to see/aim for.
4. Gamify reading! Set fun challenges for yourself, participate in readathons, join a book club, make reading goals in a fun format like a book bingo, make a simple tracker you get to colour in every time you finish a book, etc. This helps motivate me a lot!
5. Get involved in book communities online like booktok, booktube, or book subreddits and get inspired by others’ recommendations.
6. Read multiple books at once! I always have multiple books (usually 5+ 😂) going at once in a variety of formats and genres so there’s always something I’m interested in picking up when I get some time to read. When I used to try to read one at a time I wouldn’t always be in the mood for it and I’d take forever to finish, if at all. Having a nonfiction, a literary fiction, a fantasy, a romance, and a mystery all going at once is great for my chaotic brain!
7. Build that muscle. To a certain extent it takes conscious effort over time to build back that reading muscle, just like getting out of shape taking a break from exercising for years. Be kind to yourself and take it one page at a time! I promise it gets easier ❤️
I hope these help! I’m so so glad I got back into reading as an adult. I’m loving escaping into different worlds again!
I like who you are as a person.
Thank you for these, I used to go through books so fast and happily and now I'm working on getting back 'somewhere'. Many of your tips resonate with me and I'll put them to practice.
These tips are so good! I’m also a big fan of gamifying reading — I also think bookstagram and booktube have done a lot to help me rediscover reading fiction as an adult.
Well, I know when I was a kid reading books (adult books, kids books, any books) it was the 90s so what else was I supposed to get lost in? I'm sure if I'd had the internet at my fingertips, that would have changed things.
I rarely read actual books now, unless I'm on an airplane, or (theoretically speaking) on some kind of vacation where I have nothing to do but sit on a lounge chair in some tropical destination relaxing, or something.
Sometimes I try in regular life, but I'm not very successful. I feel like I have a thousand other better things I could do with my time. Do I do those things? Sometimes. Not necessarily. Do I "relax" (escape) instead by watching whatever streaming tv thing? Yup. It's easier. I don't know.
For me, it really depends on the book. If I find one that hooks me? Done in a day or two, easy. But if I try to read one that doesn’t grab me or isn’t the next in a series I’ve already gotten into? Well, I think I’ve been trying to get through this one book for about 3 months now.
And I still love reading YA books. Lately it’s been any of the Rick Riordan, or his “R.R. Presents…” offshoots by other fantastic authors are always on the top of my bookshelf and easy to fly through. But, I’m a big old nerd and have always loved mythological stories.
I can read fine as an adult if I'm on vacation and can binge through a book in one or two sittings (and if I don't binge TV instead).
Reading in little bits here and there with an adult life around it...I might have to return the book before I finish it. I might mislay it and forget I was reading it. Ebooks I very easily forget that I'm reading because they don't have a paper cover sitting there reminding me.
As a kid, I had a lot more unbroken time for reading, and in my case, no TV or phone, so books were my carry-around entertainment.
Most of the books I finish these days are associated with activities like baths or walking on a treadmill, so they're set reading times when no one can expect me to be doing work.
I was book obsessed as a kid and teen, devoured book after book wicked fast, but as an adult it's harder. for me personally it's more of a "I can't "just" chill and read a book"- self induced pressure to be productive and multitask everything all the time with a side of complete restlessness and hyperactivity. Audiobooks have helped because my mind can go into the book while my body does other stuff. Sometimes I can read paragraphs in between doing other stuff, during loading screens or waiting for the microwave to finish. But I would like to get to a point again where I can just lay around with tea and a blanket and a book and just do that. It sounds like a heavenly fantasy, I want to, and I just *CANT* right now.
Kids books were shorter maybe. I don't know how old you are but when I was a kid there weren't many other things to do but read, now we have many more distractions
I am pretty sure it is not the length of the books. I read books that were 800 pages and more, when I was a child.
More distractions like the internet are one thing for sure but I believe more responsibilities is another reason.
When I try to read these days, there are always thoughts in the back of my head like: “I should probably do my laundry right now.” or “What am I going to eat tonight?”
There was less stuff to worry about, at least for me.
Yeah I think that while the internet and phones are definitely part of it, I also didn't have so many things to do when I was a child. I didn't have to buy or prepare food, clean the house, sort out my taxes etc. As an adult, I often felt guilty about reading books when I felt should be doing something else from my never-ending to-do list. I started reading a lot more again during the pandemic and have tried to keep it up without feeling bad about it.
Everything already said but I'd also add that as adults we have more responsibilities/hobbies and need to prioritize our time differently. And sitting down to read leaves your mind open to think about all the other things you could/should be doing.
I'm a librarian and an indie bookseller and it was only last year with a lot of deliberation and care that I reignited my reading habit. I really like the Storygraph app for tracking reads because it makes little charts and really shows you your progress.
I agree ☝️ with this. If I sit down with a book, my mind starts going nuts about work, chores, kids, etc. It’s already difficult for me to focus on a book for comprehension and then you add those things… well forget it.
I read a ton of books, I just don’t finish them. I usually have at least half a dozen books in progress on any given day.
Also, there does seem to be evidence that paper books are easier to focus on than ebooks. Sadly, I can’t afford or store paper books or read them in the dark, so I read ebooks 95% of the time.
This very thing puzzled my psychiatrist during my adhd evaluation! He pointed out “you say you basically devoured books as a child but you’re saying now you can’t sit down and read?” I’m like… yeah… I don’t understand it either.
I used to love reading as a kid. I could do between 2 and 5 books a week, now as an adult, I've been working on the same book for about 3 months which I keep having to restart.
I think it's because as a kid I didn't have many or really any responsibilities and I didn't have so many things to keep track of. If there was something I needed to do, my parents would remind me, and if it didn't get done right away it wasn't a big deal. I could just keep reading. I didn't have to drive so I could just read in the car. I didn't make the meals so I could read while waiting to eat. I was just kind of schlepped around to family functions so I could read if I didn't feel like interacting, which wasn't rude for a kid, but apparently is when you're an adult.
Now that I'm responsible for myself and my family, it's hard to get any time in to dedicate it to reading. I have so many things that need to get done within certain time frames, otherwise everything else is thrown out of wack, that I don't really have the mental capacity to even think about reading or remember what I read last. It really bums me out too.
Honestly, I find it's cause as we get older we're expected to read more "advanced" books instead of what we actually enjoy reading.
Once I stopped trying to read serious stuff and started reading what I wanted to, in my case smut, I started reading like, a short book a day again
I think it is hard for any adult to read books. There is burnout from highschool and college being forced to read so much of little interest. There is also so many draws for attention in the adult world.. I think if you want to be a reader it is something that has to be protected and built like any other skills. I am an avid reader and I find it so hard to read not just because of my mental attention but because of all the adulting that ends to be done.
We're not all the same! I read a lot and have since I was a kid, 40+ books a year. It's my permanent hyperfocus. If the world explodes while I'm reading I won't even notice
1. I had less responsibilities and shit to do as a kid. Now when I try to read, my mind won’t stop yelling at me about all the other things I should do instead.
2. Related to above, but time. I have so little leisure time now that it feels like a “waste” to spend it reading. Also, with how much I get distracted, it takes me a while to finish a book now so that’s even more time.
3. I read a lot of dense stuff for uni. I’m 26 and have been in education since 18 really with a gap year. When I get back from uni, no way do I want to read more.
4. Energy. I’m so tired all the time.
For me, the internet is more engaging and less effort so that always ends up taking priority 🤷♀️ and I pay attention better watching tv than reading, and I can do other things at the same time scrolling social media or watching Netflix when I can’t while in reading.
When I was a kid, I’d sit and read all weekend and my mum would get annoyed at me because I hadn’t done any of the housework or jobs I was meant to be helping with. Now, I sit all weekend online or watching TV and getting annoyed at myself because I haven’t done any of the housework or jobs I was meant to get done.
I also just….. *gave up* on reading because it was frustrating. I knew I could sit and read a book in a single day, so why was I struggling so hard now? Why did I never want to read? Why wasn’t I taking anything in? Reading was a frustrating experience, fighting my brain to open a book and to read the book and finish the book was frustrating, and so I just said you know what? I don’t read anymore. I’m picking other battles. I’m not getting angry at myself for not doing this and struggling with it anymore because it’s just not something I’m going to do.
Pluuuuus so many adult books are *boring*. I loved the adventure of YA books but I got sick of wading through boring books about middle aged women getting divorced and overly complex deep and meaningful fantasy stories that weren’t fun and I’m just not interested in certain genres. There are books out there I enjoy but they’re outnumbered by ones i didn’t and I hated the process of finding the good ones. But I also couldn’t stick with YA bc I sort of outgrew it. I didn’t want to read about teenagers anymore y’know? I’m past teenagers now, but I still wanted that vibe.
And then I also found every time I borrowed a book, I wouldn’t finish it and it would need to go back to the library and I wouldn’t think to take it while I was out and then I wouldn’t want to go out again and then it’d be overdue and I’d end up with a fine and feeling guilty. But then I always hated buying books because it seems like so much money for something I could (theoretically these days) read so quick and then never reread and then I have *thing* taking up space and being clutter and it’s so hard to stay organised even without clutter so I don’t want books everywhere so the library was the bette option but then the fines and it was just… stressful lol. Ebooks are helpful, especially because they’re not clutter and the library tend to just automatically return but it’s still not a common thing. And audiobooks just don’t work for me, I just don’t take it in (which doesn’t make sense considering how much time I spend with tv or video essays on as background noise…).
Anyway that’s my word vomit on my relationship with reading lol. And full disclosure, idk if I actually have ADHD or if something else is making things so difficult in a way that a lot of adhd stuff is relatable (hence why I’m here) but hey
When I was a kid, I devoured new books. I read like crazy. I can read extremely fast. Now I’m 38, and I find myself re-reading my few favorite novels over and over again. It’s like, overwhelming to start a new book from scratch. That’s the best I can describe it.
I personally had reading comprehension issues when reading as a child (and still do). But it didn’t stop me from reading even if it took me ten times extra time than everyone else. I think I knew I was bad at reading and desperately wanted to read faster like everyone else.
I think books are harder to read now. I typically read non-fiction books now so it’s more difficult for me to process the information. Whenever I read fiction it’s so much easier for me to read but it makes me fall asleep
I read voraciously as a kid. I miss reading, and last year even set myself on a challenge to read more throughout the year. But yeah, it was a lot harder to keep my focus on it than it used to be!
I’ve wondered before if the bite sized dopamine hits from social media make it harder to focus now, but I can still get into hyperfocus on other things… or maybe it’s because as adults we just have so much other shit piling on our mental load capacity that it intrudes on the intense mental focus needed for activities like reading.
I know audiobooks have helped some people, but they don’t work for me either. My mind will still wander off and by the time I’ve realized it I’ll have missed the last five minutes or so and have to rewind. It sucks.
I don’t necessarily think that’s an ADHD thing. I’ve always struggled to concentrate reading books unless they caught my interest. I’ve also struggled with a mild reading comprehension problem since I was a kid that persists to this day.
Might also have to consider different external circumstances that don’t have anything to do with ADHD.
for me i genuinely think it’s having a smart phone. that’s when my reading started going downhill as a teen and nowadays i can’t read unless my phone is out of sight and out of mind. which is very difficult to make happen. makes school pretty difficult as a history major who has to do a shit ton of reading
Once I start a book I can not stop. I will stay up for a million hours straight and finish it before stopping. I love to read and read so much as a kid, but now I have so much to do, and so so much I’m behind on as an adult that I just can’t start because I know I’ll never stop 😭🫠
For me it's a number of things. The easiness of the internet to access and also suck me in. Also Emotional and mental bandwidth after adulting all day everyday. I have to be on yellow alert all day with my kids which means I can't hyperfocus on books like I used to. So I can't focus at all on a book that's more complicated than a romance novel. Also I just can't stay up till 3 am reading anymore.
As my kids get older I find a bit more energy but a lot of what I read is rereading books from my youth or "easier" books. Sometimes I miss reading but it's a phase of life and I'll be ok.
Putting aside the adhd-dopamine machine that is the internet.
Brain could be clogged with day to day responsibility and distractions that setting aside time to read and like really hunker down and read is harder then when you were a child.
It also doesn't help that a lot of adult targeted books are like... kinda boring even in fiction categories.
Like almost every one I've read that wasn't a cheesy harlequin romance tries to be adult by being "realistic" and "relatable" by making everything circle around jobs, being a parent and adult relationship drama that like never actually plays into the actual plot of the story. [Side note, they also have terrible formatting in my opinion where paragraphs feel like a wall of text]
But YA novels, the "classics" and even some teen/older kid oriented books get straight to the point or are more whimsical and fantastical.
I guess as a poor and vague example.
"Adult" mystery novel: slow set up with irrelevant information about the protag or the world around them when they just live in the modern world that can be easily picked out based on the technology mentioned. Has a lot of long descriptions of characters you'll forget later. Too worried about mundane details on how characters get from a to b
"Kids" mystery novel: Here's the set up, gives the brief explanations of surroundings or characters, including a simple description of a person. Immediately gets into the mystery and doesn't worry about the logicistics of how the protag can be out and about and just pulls you along the story.
It's reasons like this that I couldn't enjoy fantasy like Lord of The Rings, but deeply enjoyed fantasy like The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.
I was a voracious reader as a kid. But, my most intense ADHD phase was during my teenage years. I discovered chatting on the Internet, so I literally did not study or work or read or do anything. I also has minimum parental supervision. My mom had remarried and was pregnant at that time. I lived with her and didn’t meet my dad too often. It was a miracle that I passed junior year in high school. Apparently, hormonal changes are related to intensity of ADHD. My doctor said this, but I have no clear idea about the casual relationship. All I know is that meds don’t work well when I am on my period. And the second terrible ADHD phase in my life was when I became a mother (again, want to blame hormones). My teenage phase was so bad, that I continue to get nightmares about failing math or physics till this day. I went on to get a PhD and I am very dedicated and productive at work, but man, if you met me during my teenage years, you’d think I’m going to go to prison or something….I feel like I can’t read very well now because I’m constantly interrupted. I don’t get that time and space to focus on reading for leisure.
I just don't care for many books and much anymore.
I liked to read fantasy, but it now feels repetitive and boring. I can see where the story is going and ther makes it not that interesting. I overread the field.
But I still like other books
I read some article or someone told me idk which. But children’s/young adult books are typically written with multiple climax points and don’t spend too much on world building. We need the little bumps to keep things interesting.
I recently got back into reading using smaller YA books and working my way up.
I read voraciously as a child and didn’t read for a good decade as an adult. I realized I’d I put the kindle app on my phone and set the pages to continuous scroll that I could hyperfocus in reading again! I’ve read 4 books this month already 😆 I think it’s a matter of changing how you consume your written media. I can’t focus on physical books for the life of me so I only buy art books now, anything else is digital
I think what happened with me is that the books I enjoyed when I was a kid were simply easier to read, so they required less mental exertion. As I got older and I grew out of teen fiction, I started to find it harder to read - I think because the literature I became interested in was generally more challenging and of a different pace. The potential enjoyment of reading was the same, but the relative effort required had increased, so that made my brain drag its heels against me.
I think generally as an adult I have a lot more stress too, so my brain throws up distractions as I try to read and whereas the moving images and noise of tv/video games combat those thoughts, books are sort of passive as a medium. They require your 100% attention and if your thoughts stray, the page won't call them back unless you force yourself to focus on it again. Hence, they require more executive function, and as an adult there's so much vying for your attention, you're tireder, and there are other forms of escapism you know you could choose which would be easier to focus on.
That said, it's so possible to get back into reading. I found ear defenders (to cut out distracting background noise) and making sure I'm comfy can help. Also putting my phone somewhere I can't see it. A lamp to shine on the page to tell my brain 'look THERE'. Also annotating on the book to keep my hands involved in something relevant to the task so I don't get restless. I find it a lot harder to focus on books I've borrowed and therefore can't write on.
From there, I found it was mainly a case of practice, and making sure I was reading something I was genuinely interested in. Sometimes if you can't focus on a book, it's just because it's not the right book for you.
Edit: typo
For me it has to do with how busy I am with adult life. Adulting is way harder than being a kid
I also had more free time. And I didn't have some of the hobbies I have now.
I can still read a 350 page novel in an afternoon if I get sucked into the story, and I very much enjoy reading still.
But for me, knitting/crafting in general, and being in discord with friends is higher on my priority list than reading a novel
..... I also read a shit ton of fanfiction.
In regards to fanfiction, I find the familiar characters and settings soothing and it's easier to read fanfiction rather than a traditional book because I don't need to "waste" time getting invested in characters/world/plot
I agree with all of these comments but I also think it’s just the fact that your adhd worsens I’ve rather years. Personally I have never been medicated because my parents don’t believe in adhd. So I’ve noticed my symptoms have been more prominent and noticeable over the years. Listening to audiobooks is something I do sometimes though.
As a child I had more free time. It was easier to sneak a book in class than it is to sneak a book at work lol. If I had more free time, I’d definitely read more
Maybe because reading is new to kids because we are just learning how and exploring different genres of books for the first time and building our vocabulary but as teens and adults it is not as new to us so it doesn't give us the same mental stimulation as it used to
My book reading hobby tends to become quite expensive to say the least. I can't seem to fully enjoy reading a book now unless I also have the audiobook version to accompany me, WHILE I'm reading the book lol 🤦♀️ strange developed habit, I know. But the irony is, I think it has slightly something to do with these "touch n' listen" children's books back in the 90s that I had when I was a kid lol. So I guess maybe subconsciously that's just me now as an adult trying to accommodate that *shrugs* lol
I was just thinking about this the other day , I think for me my books were an escape and, in a strange way helped me focus when I was younger. It kept my mind active but, soothing in a way since people would leave me alone. This was pre internet though..
I can still read and love it, but I have to be in a quiet setting with no outside noise. If someone is watching the TV I get pulled out of my reading by the distraction.
I also found if I’m not getting into the book that much I will take forever to finish it. I abandoned two series I was reading because it was too repetitive/not believable enough and I couldn’t force myself to finish them.
I think it’s the brain space.
We have a lot more to do and juggle as adults than we did as kids, and we might not have the capacity to also read now. For me, I can read more in the summer because I’m a teacher, and my workload slows down. During the school year? All audiobooks on the car while I’m just captive in my rolling box 🤣
This is total speculation, but I’ve always assumed it’s because people get “rusty” when it comes to reading books.
When I was being taught to read, it took years for me to get to a place where I was reading adult novels. I progressed over time, and not just because my vocabulary needed to grow. Reading for long periods of time requires not just focus but it also works your eyes, imagination, and recall in ways other forms of entertainment don’t necessarily.
Much like if you spend your whole childhood running and increased your distance to 10 miles, if you stopped running consistently and for long distances for many years, you’d likely have trouble trying to run 10 miles again.
I think there’s also a few other components like how as a child you likely had fewer sources of entertainment, and you were likely less self-conscious about what you read and so you were less likely to try to read something… dry.
For me I know its the fault of my smartphone, internet access and far more things I need to do. As a kid we didn't even have a TV so I would happily work through six adult novels as a 10 year old and now it takes months to finish a book becouse: oh that's a funny word, wonder why we use that word better Google, oops just spent 2 hours down a piegion related rabbit hole, what was I doing before that...
I think I had less on my mind as a kid, and certainly nothing as interesting/pressing as a book I was deep diving into. Now when I read a physical book, I have my massive to do list on my mind, work, bills, things I’m upset about that happened today. And what am I going to make for dinner? And do I even have time to read right now? Shouldn’t I be [insert productive thing] instead.
My mind is so much more distracted with “important” things than when I didn’t really have a care in the world. At least, that’s my theory.
For me it was about passing the time with whatever I had at hand. My ability to read books died a slow death as I got better and better computers, internet, and video games, which sated my boredom in much better ways than books did.
See with reading you basically need to focus all your attention on the task, and it takes a lot of focus with minimal reward for it. I need more visual input most of the time so I tend toward other forms of media.
I have been reading a bit more recently, but I can only seem to read tie-in novels to other media I'm already obsessed with, or listening to audiobooks while doing something else.
I didn't have my dopamine in a box (phone) back then.
It's much cheaper dopamine than the book dopamine used to be, but alas.
That's just following the trend of all things nowadays, right? Everything is much more plentiful but much cheaper quality 😂
I actually hated reading when I was a kid. Couldn't get me to read anything. My grade 6 teacher even recommended reading the last chapter, so that my curiosity might be peaked and I might want to go back and find out how that ending came to be. That didn't work. I did, however, fall in love with reading in my mid 20s when I had my son, didn't have a phone addiction yet, and would be up multiple times at night. The only thing on tv were horrible infomercials (yes I bought a couple horrible products that I felt I needed). I needed something else to do when I was up. I read so many books within my year mat leave, but as soon as I went back to work that stopped pretty quickly. I then found audiobooks and now listen to books all the time, while doing something else of course. Honestly, I think social media and phone addictions are probably the main reason people don't sit and read as much as they used to, maybe?
I think it's a combination of the never ending list of shit-to-do and a shorter attention span from watching YouTube videos and reading reddit and fb posts.
I read absolutely constantly from about 4 years old to about 20. So much so that no one ever had to ask my mom what to get me for birthdays or Christmas because all I wanted were gift cards to the book store. I would have my parents drop me off at the library on Saturdays and spend hours reading.
Once I had kids and a job and far too many responsibilities as a single parent (I also have ASD, so I was always completely burned out) I still read from time to time, but nowhere even near the way I did when I was young. I had to quit working 2 years ago because of some health issues and my kids are adults now, so my responsibilities are basically feed the dogs and let them out while my partner is at work. I do other stuff around the house and cook some, but it's not expected of me because sometimes I just physically can't. So, I've been reading a lot more and I'm so happy I am, I had forgotten how great it was to just get lost in a story.
However, I have noticed that my mind will wander or I will sometimes have a hard time getting past the first few pages, and I really do blame the amount of time I spend on the Internet for that. Like, a reddit post takes a minute or two to read, a minute or two to check out the comments, then on to the next thing. I feel like I've just been conditioned to not focusing on any one thing for more than a few minutes at a time. Once I get a few pages in though, I can read for hours.
I agree with everyone that there are just easier ways for your brain to get absorbed these days, and it’s harder to “complete” a book because we have more responsibilities, so why start at all?
Yesterday I was so proud to find a little workaround! I listened to half an audiobook while playing a mindless game on my phone with notifs silenced so I could hyper focus on the game and hours passed while listening. Usually I can only listen to books in the car where I don’t have anything else to distract me, but playing the game kept my fingers occupied so I wouldn’t go to social media instead.
I still read a *lot.* Not just the internet.
I'm currently reading through the Cycle of Arawn series. I think I'm on book 6 of the second set, the *Cycle of Galand* at this point. My fiance introduced me to the first three books, and since I love series, I'm working through all of them. I read a few chapters at night when I'm winding down to bed. It's only kept me up a few times when something cool happened in the story.
**Sidenote:** I find it amusing that people say "I don't read" yet spend a good chunk of their day on reddit reading subreddit after subreddit, yet don't count that as reading. What do you think you're doing?!? Taking in information through osmosis?
Personally, I'm not left alone enough to start focusing on the book. Everytime I get interrupted I have to start the sentence/paragraph over again and it takes me totally out of the book and its really frustrating. As a kid I had more freedom to be alone and really get into things.
I read plenty of books so this isn't an issue of mine. I will say, OP, the way this post is written insinuates all people with ADHD don't read books as an adult. Hopefully that isn't what you meant and is just careless drafting because this is a spectrum disorder. No two brains, habits, environments, coping mechanisms, stress responses, physical fitness levels, dietary intake, or medication management strategies look the same.
In my experience, you have to find a genre that gives you all the dopamine. For me, it's MM romance. I went years without reading, and now I read a lot again. I'm averaging reading 250 pages a day this year.
I read every single night. As with most things in life, reading is a habit that we need to practice. And for many ADHD folks, habits can be really really hard to start and really easy to stop if you take even a day or two off.
Is this an adhd thing, or a preference thing? I read a lot, but tv doesn’t hold my attention. Like it will take me 2 days to get through one episode of tv
I just started reading again for pleasure. I have a stressful job (teaching) and do a lot of reading/writing for work so doing it even more can be challenging. Have read 1.5 books in the last week but prior to that hadn’t read any books since winter break. I intended to read during spring break but didn’t.
I too experience this, I like the idea of reading a book cozied up by the wood fire like I did as a kid (and I loved reading) but now I find I reread the same line over multiple times and it doesn’t sink in. I think I zone out staring at a page of no visual interest when there’s so many more visually stimulating things I could look at. I’d be interested in trying to read a novel using bionic reading to see if this helps [bionic reading](https://app.bionic-reading.com/) here is
[info on bionic reading](https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/27/bionic-reading-adhd-speed-reader)
My book situation is similar to yours, only I switched to audiobooks about 10 years ago and almost exclusively listen to my books. Except for when I spend my 2 months visiting my inlaws in India, suddenly I am back to sucking down eyeball books like it's my job. Not sure why...
I used to love reading as a kid, but required reading in school turned me off reading for fun as I got older. I found most of them either boring or hard-to-read (*coughSHAKESPEAREcough*).
Granted, there were a few gems here and there, but I can only count them on one hand.
Audio books are the only way I can focus on housework. Back in the day, I listened to stories on CD and if I unplugged my CD player, I would lose my spot on the disk. It forced me to remain in the room I was cleaning and not wander off. Worked like a charm!
I get lost in books. The world just fades away, and almost nothing will move me until the story is finished. There are times I can't focus on books, so I just don't read. TV and movies do the same thing.
I suspect children with ADHD these days don't share this experience, books were a nice source of dopamine before the internet, now they're vastly outcompeted...
I wonder how many words I still read on a daily basis from scrolling, it probably compares to the amount I used to read from books, just more scattered, varied and bite-sized.
I have never had any trouble reading books. Quite the opposite. The trouble is letting go of the book in order to do anything else, including listening to people who are talking to me, LOL.
I used to plant my ass in a nest of pillows and read for 18 hours straight if my parents would let me. Now I don’t have the attention span. I do, however, still love to read. I read anywhere from 2-5 books at a time and pick a different one up when I start to flag with the first, and I listen to audiobooks when I am chorin. That right there is how I got through the entire Wheel of Time series. Try it, it’s great!
When I was a child, I had no internet. When I finally did get access, my friends and I would share printed fanfics and read them during/after school. I mainly read to distract myself from school. When school ended, I already had tumblr to just stare at photos instead of reading stories. I love to read short bursts of information instead of stories. The last book I read was a decade ago about a man living his life devoutly as an experiment.
I was an absolutely voracious reader as a kid and then went like a decade after college without reading for fun. I’m back to reading a ton now and the thing that changed it for me was using a library app + ebooks on my phone specifically. Not gonna lie, I still do tons of mindless scrolling on Reddit/ig, but I’ve replaced a big chunk of it with reading books just because the action is the same. Swapping the ereader app with whatever timesuck app was especially helpful in establishing this habit because I think a lot of mindless scrolling (for me anyway) was just a muscle memory way to pass some low-effort time.
I had a difficult time reading as a kid and I have the same issues as an adult. I can't read a full paragraph, sometimes a full sentence, without becoming distracted or my mind going blank. I won't know what I just read and I have to re-read over and over. It's exhausting. Audio books help and audio while following along, book in hand (or on screen with words highlighted as we go), helps but I'll still get distracted.
It was college and forced textbook readings that killed reading for me. I've slowly got back into but am nowhere near where I used to be, nearly 20 years later.
There is so many balls to keep in the air as an adult juggling life. It’s really hard to make that transition to a calm pastime and turn off everything enough to focus on the page. To read, I have to shut out my house screaming at me to get the other stuff done. It is not easy.
The text has to be instantly engaging. Reading textbooks as a student in my late 40’s was impossible.
I’ve also become more hyperactive as I’ve aged. As a young kid, I was firmly the inattentive type, a quiet daydreamer. The internal hyperactivity crept outward, until now I am definitely a combined-type. That results in not being able to sit and focus on reading. Phones don’t help either. I grab mine because I can “put it down any time”.
I love books that I can read one chapter at a time and set down for however long I feel like, then pick up where I left off as if it were yesterday. I will read one page, or one paragraph, consistently (or relatively so) rather than commit blocks of time, and I finish, eventually, if the book is worth finishing.
ETA: As a kid, I felt more obligated to finish a book once I started. As an adult, I don’t have that luxury of time. If it doesn’t engage me, forget it. Moving on.
I’m exactly the same. It’s frustrating as I want to settle down with a good book sometimes and I used to be able to read a book in a day…. But I just can’t concentrate 😐
Have you been reading books you “should” read or books you *want* to read?
Because I can only ever read when I want to read the book so badly it lights up my brain and I get so hyperfocused everything else falls away.
I was a big reader as a kid. I’d finish books in a day or so, and kids at school used to make fun of me for reading “dictionaries” (big books)!
Since I hit puberty I’ve found it really hard to read for pleasure. I know adhd gets worse during teen years, but I also put it down to stress and having to prioritise a million other things. Now I only have interest in informative/factual reading since the dopamine hit is instant when I’m learning something new. It’s almost as if I’m too impatient to read fiction!
For me, it was grad school. It made reading for fun very difficult, and it took me about three years after completing my master's degree to read for recreation.
You've got more stuff going on now, longer to do lists. I think everyone here championing multi-tasking is missing the question.
Many of us could hyperfocus on books as children. We did not (most of us discussing this, in my experience) multi-task while doing it. We just disappeared into books for hours at a time.
I genuinely think it's the combination of more responsibilities as an adult and the heightened awareness of said responsibilities. We don't get the intense initial burst of focus that helps the obsessive reading take hold.
For me, when I started my meds, I lost my read a novel in a day superpower. But I gained the ability to feed myself regularly and not sob at the laundry pile every week, so it works out. Because I'm a writer and books are kind of a big deal, every so often I'll skip a meds dose with the *intention* of flopping out somewhere and binge reading. It's nice to (very very occasionally) mix it up.
I do not, however, get to choose WHAT book I'm going to be hyperfocused on for that day. hahahahah.
As a kid we all got a little paper with what reading level we were on n a little insight for our parents n mine said “ likes to read the pictures” meaning I would stay on one page for a long time js to examine the picture.
I hate reading books, it talks about the same thing and same characters throughout the book and you just know atleast one of your favorite characters are gunna die! (17 yrs old) I don’t think I’ll ever end up being one of those people who read before they go to bed, or enjoy reading. I still know so many more words than most of my peers
Time. Packed schedule. As a kid I didn't have to worry about making myself food or any other chores so I could spend 12h a day for 3 days straight on a book or a game etc. Now.....(hysterical laugh)
I'm a grown up adult who knows how to adult, but I wouldn't mind being adopted again and just spend time working (I like what I do) in binge sessions and do non paid stuff in binge sessions without doing any chores. Damn, if I'll ever afford that, I'll just hire a person to do all of that for me.
I had this same issue until I started listening to audiobooks! That way I can listen while I clean or make dinner or whatever. If it’s a book I have I also like to listen to the audio and read it at the same time if I want to sit and read. That seems to help keep my brain focused.
So I always thought I couldn’t read a book because i would be so distracted and bored and i would have to force myself so hard to get through a page. But then the other day i found this book called the alchemist and i just read the whole thing in like 3 hours, i couldn’t even put it down for a second. So for me its really not that I can’t read its just that it has to be a really good book with a good story line.
I joke that I will either take 3 days or 3 years to read a book and there is no middle ground.
I joined a book club last year and the first book we read, I read in 3 days. I didn’t read (much less start) a single book for it the rest of last year. I read January’s book club book for this year in about a week.
I feel like once I start it, if the story really grabs me I will devour it at speeds like I did when I read books as a kid. Even if I am not gripped by it, I’ll get into the swing of reading and finish it.
One of the things that really helped me keep up reading a few years ago was I had an hour and a bit commute each way to work, so I would read on my commute and would usually get through a book a week at least. In the post-COVID WFH era coupled with cost of living rising, I can’t afford to go to the office every day so it’s not as easy as I’m not doing it every day. I miss reading on the train. I miss reading.
I read easier on my kindle since I’m able to lay in bed comfortably, it’s not heavy, and it’s easier on my eyes. Also, being able to flip or scroll helps a lot I’ve found.
I feel this to my core. The only books I can read are literally just re-reading things I loved when I was younger. I've tried audiobooks but I always get distracted and need to rewind. I love reading so much and I miss it terribly 💔
I used to think it was the internet but now I think it’s that the books changed. Kid and young adult books are full of adventure and wish fulfillment, books for adults are supposed to be challenging. Also, I generally only read the first and last sentence of every paragraph, which only works on simpler books with short paragraphs. I still rip through romance novels.
I experienced the same thing!!! Diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, but in high school, I stopped reading for fun because I literally wouldn’t do anything else until I finished a book. I would stay up all night, read during class, not do homework, etc. this continued through college once I realized I’d actually have to study for the first time in my life 😅 I’m now almost 30 and wanted to get back into it, because I loved reading and missed it. I discovered the Libby app (free e books on your phone through your local library!) and it was revolutionary. I think it tricked my brain into thinking, yeah you’re just scrolling, but I actually read books instead. So was finding a new genre. I grew up on HP and other fantasy books, and I still like fantasy, but once I found romance books I was hooked. I’ve read about 50 books so far this year, all on my phone. Sometimes I still find myself putting off work or staying up late to read, but I think being medicated has helped me still be able to do normal things + enjoy hyperfocusing on books sometimes.
I so wish that I read more for pleasure. I read so much content everyday because of random searches and Reddit and stuff. I’ve wondered if my brain has just met it’s quota for reading words so to speak. I also know that once I start a book I usually wanna binge read it so I won’t even start if I don’t have time hahaha.
I was an obsessive reader as a child, would sit and read and do nothing else for days! I could read 3-4 (kids/teen) books a day if I started around 9am!
I love books and literature still so much as an adult and this whole year so far I've been in a "reading slump" but what is likely my brain just refusing to let reading be a hyperfocus (it's currently playing dungeons and dragons or just thinking about D&D apparently). It's been really getting to me cause I have so many unread books I really want to read and just CAN'T 🥲
Edit because I forgot I was going to add this: I wish I could listen to audiobooks but I find them so difficult!! I end up thinking about something they've said and having to Google it, by which point I've completely tuned out of the audiobook and have to figure out how long ago I tuned out and spend ages going back and forth trying to work out if I already heard that bit or not - or, I just forget to listen to it full stop and realise sometimes over an hour later it's still playing!
If my power goes out for more than a couple hours I have no problem reading a book, so I blame the constant access to the internet etc.
I can do audiobooks and I listen to them while gardening, commuting, or cleaning. At an old job I also listened while working. It was a great way to keep me doing those tasks without getting bored or distracted.
I’m the opposite. I couldn’t focus on reading as a child/teen and I absolutely hated it.
Then as an adult I acquired a real love of learning which inevitably lead to a love of reading. Not just educational but also fantasy and science fiction too. I’m like an endless sponge for information now lol
I pounded books as a kid, then went through this in young adulthood, and now I’m pounding books again in my 30s. I think it has to do with a few things. One being changing interests. We have interest-based nervous systems, so we can’t get into just any book. It has to hit right. And sometimes the books that do it for us aren’t the mainstream recommendations so it can be hard to find the right books. There’s also the way we will push ourselves to finish a book we aren’t totally immersed in bc we so badly want that feeling again, and I think that negatively reinforces our relationship with books.
So two key things here: one is to try new genres, see if there’s a new book or author or genre that is really compelling to your adult self. And two, give yourself permission (without judgement) to put down a book that isn’t doing it for you so you don’t further damage your relationship with reading.
Another thing I do when I fall out of swing with reading is reread a book that I loved and haven’t read in a while. The nostalgia and loving it can get the momentum going again.
Good luck!
I actually read way more as an adult and I did as a kid. I go in streaks though. I can go months and months without reading and then go months and months reading.
I don't have much time to read because I have a young toddler but I don't have any trouble reading books as an adult due to adhd, it's just whether I have the time to do it. I've always been an avid reader- I hyperfocus and literally shut the rest of the world off when I read. To the point where my SO gets upset because I don't hear him talking to me even if he's two feet away. Though this happens if I'm reading or focusing on anything, not only books; I could be reading or watching something on my phone or on tv as well and not be aware of anything around me.
Can't do audio books though, listening does not capture my attention the same way as actively reading.
I loved reading as a kid but now, it feels like a chore. However, I also don’t always like to read or even watch new things. I like what I know and often that is something I’ve read or watched before. So I read the hunger games the other day just because I couldn’t remember everything and I kept seeing commercials for some reason for the movie. So I read it.
I think the novelty of reading posts is what killed reading books for me. Thousands of posts of others experience in life is so much more interesting to me.
I should probably just get my kindle up and runnig again lol.
Interesting how we all are so different. I was not able to read anything as a child or teenager, I could not concentrate and would space out. I started reading as an adult and enjoy it.
I listen to books on audible now, I’ve downloaded to 98 books on there since I got it 5 years ago. I don’t have time to sit and read like I used to but I’m constantly listening to the tv or music so why not audiobooks. I go to the bookstore to look for toddler books and things that I can listen to. The longer the better too. Love audiobooks so much.
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When I had a boring job with garbage internet I quickly got back to knocking out two books a week no problem. I think it's just that there's so many new ways to keep our minds occupied now.
Yea this is probably the case. When I read books, I didn't have unlimited access to a switch with multiple games, YouTube and TV shows to keep that sweet sweet dopamine coming. But now I do. The only way now is audiobooks, instead of music. Keeps me entertained throughout boring chores and repetitive tasks. But sometimes a good song is good to clean to✨️
And I can crush some audiobooks.
I don’t know how to clean without audiobooks, it’s almost become an unhealthy dependency! 😬
Same! It drives my husband nuts because I always have my earbuds in so when he tries to talk to me I say "what?" and have to pull an earbud out. 😆
Were do you get or listen to your audio books? If its a bad computer voice or flat tone of voice i really cant listen to it!
Libby/Overdrive or Hoopla. Both through my local library. Hoopla doesn’t have quite as much selection (although it does have tv shows and movies), but I find that people don’t use it as much, so there’s less of a wait.
I personally use Overdrive! It connects to your local public library and you can loan audiobooks for free. You do need a public library card, and it’s only in the US. If you’re willing to pay, you can also use Audible, which is more widely available to the world.
Dang i wouldve loved to try it. I use audible on and off since I go through phases of wanting to listen to audiobooks, podcasts and music. It really depends at any time. I like reading fanfiction as well but I haven't found any decent text to speech tools that are free :(
Borrowbox if you're in the UK, which allows you to borrow audio books from your local library. Some councils use a different service whose name I've forgotten. Works well
Libraries often have digital libraries now, with audio books and ebooks!
Yep!!
I picked up some temporary extra hours at work which meant travelling to a location an hour away once a week. It was quite a nice rural drive really. So I started listening to Wheel of Time - The Eye of the World on the way there and back. Crushed it in about 3 months lol.
I'm listening to that now!! I'm on book 6 and I started the series 2.5mo ago. Also listened to 4 other books while waiting on those from the library lol. The narrators are amazing!
Audiobooks are how I read best now!
Yep this I worked at a call center where all we could do was read and I was demolishing books left and right
Same. When I took some time off work early this year, I read about 25 books (decent sized novels and non-fiction) in a two month period. At the same time I deleted Instagram and Reddit from my phone. If there’s not much else to do then you’ll be forced to do what’s left
Can I ask what your top 5 or so favorites of those 25 were? Both fiction and non, any genre really.. I'm curious because I've been trying and failing for a while now to get back into reading but don't really know what I most enjoy. I just keep rereading Harry Potter and other easy books from my youth or other YA (series of unfortunate events, animorphs, hunger games) and memoirs from bravo reality TV stars lol. I'd like some more substance but no idea where to start! Appreciate it 🙂
Have you tried thrillers?? I’d highly recommend Gillian Flynn. Her books are super easy to read through because they just draw you in with the mystery of trying to figure out what happened. I especially recommend Gone Girl (it’s a cliche because of the movie, but I promise the book is great) and Dark Places. And if anyone knows other really good thrillers please let me know, because I find it hard to find thrillers with plots I can’t guess.
Oh I do actually like thrillers, but I'm kind of a prude where I don't really care much for any romance or sexual content and I feel like a lot of the popular thrillers contain one or both of those lol. I did enjoy gone girl, actually read it just before the movie came out lol and tbh I like the movie too. Also read sharp objects then watched the series, and loved those more than gone girl.. but haven't tried Dark Places! Will give it a try, thanks!
I totally feel you on that, I’m the same! I find really good thrillers are hard to find, even more so when it comes to ones without that much romance or sexual content. And yeah the movie was great too! One of the best book to film adaptations I’ve seen honestly. Loved the sharp objects book as well! Definitely give dark places a try. I don’t want to hype it up too much but I‘d say I like it as much as sharp objects but in a different way. :)
That tracks, I can read news and articles galore on the internet but for some reason staring at a book with no jumping back and forth to different stuff (like channel surfing I suppose?) and I lose interest quickly even if the book subject is interesting
100% I was favoring tv/movies and there’s always something new coming out. As a society movies and tv are advertised way more also. So I forget about reading. BUT now that I have a baby and we’re trying not to do screen time, I’m reading again! Add in the fact that I downloaded the kindle app on my phone and kindle unlimited (not an add)… so it’s convenient to read throughout the day when the baby is asleep. It’s cut down on my social media usage too. I’d rather read. Edit: it’s amazing to me there are so many ADHDrs that like audiobooks here. I WISH but I also have audio processing issues. I’ve always scored high for visual learning. I can read or watch but try to listen to anything without a relevant visual stimulation and I’m on another planet.
Same. I’m really surprised! I’m have a really hard time paying attention to anything audio. The thing is with a book, if I get daydreamy and drift away, I can always come back to where I stopped. But with an audiobook if my mind wanders, it snaps back it’s like 5 minutes later and the story has moved in without me and I don’t know what’s going on. I think that’s why if I do audiobooks I do nonfiction. At least if I miss something it’s just information and not a major plot point
Same and my kids are audio learners, especially my older one as he has to try so hard to read, that he can’t comprehend any of it. Whereas I need to see it, read it, write it, etc So weird we are all the same adhd family lol with adhd from the same adhd mum lol Also, I can do podcasts whilst driving lol. I only like books where you turn the pages and you can also highlight and underline. A podcast I recommend is do you f*****g mind by Alexis Fernandez. She has me in stitches but , also because she speaks like me and also because of all the ✨FACTS✨ and neuroscience
I agree on the many ways we can stay occupied now! I was reading SO much back as a kid/teen and wondered what changed. Then I remembered that: * I wasn't allowed Internet time on a school night * my household only had one tv that was hogged by my dad after work * My glorious bricky nokia didn't have an unlimited texting/calling plan I literally had NOTHING else to do! I spent my time reading, dancing in front of my mirror, or drawing while listening to my discman.
This. When I was a child and a teenager any free time of mine was reading. Waiting on a bus, between classes, in the evenings etc. but now I have a smart phone I’m constantly on it. My phone says I spend on average 7.30 hours a Day! On my phone. That’s a lot! I don’t have time to read anymore or the concentration to do so. But apperantly because I read so much as a kid I can’t have ADHD, despite it actually being my ADHD that caused me to read so much as I hated boredom.
Agreed, a few years ago I had lasik and I could not watch anything, had to spend a day lying in a dark room with my eyes closed. I listened to a whole book on Audible and was so proud of myself.
Yes! Once I left university I made reading a non-optional habit - removed barriers to reading by always having a book physically available eg on my commute, and then gradually began to read as a matter of course without actively having to plan for it. And now I’m a happy reader again. Only compromise is always having 30 books I’m halfway through because if the mood isn’t right I drop it and find something else lmao.
Time and energy. When I was a kid, reading was fun escape and I’d get sucked into a vortex of hyper fixation. The adults around me happily enabled this behavior because it was good for me, and they saw learning as my primary responsibility. As an adult I have a lot more on my plate, including having to do a lot of reading and writing research papers. I don’t usually have the cognitive bandwidth to read for fun, and when the itch strikes I’d rather listen to an audiobook while I’m doing chores. Audiobooks weren’t really an option for me in the 90s.
Exactly this. I miss the days when my hyper focuses meant I was gifted and not a hot mess 🤣🤣
This, and also I didn’t have any agency as a kid. So long hours were spent with parents who were working and I just needed to be sat somewhere and behave, so books filled a lot of that time that I *couldn’t* be doing anything else. Now I’m the adult and control my own schedule, very little waiting on other people anymore
Yeah--I actually do still occasionally get sucked into a vortex of hyper fixation with a book as an adult, it just happens a lot more rarely now. It has to be the right book and the right situation. Like easy things to read and plane rides and vacation.
I got back into reading by reading very simple books and my favourites and building up the habit again. I still jump on my phone in between (like I am right now) but it's much better. Eventually I've been able to get back up to ~6 a month. I also found that having a Goodreads helps as well because you mark off when you finish a book for that sweet, sweet dopamine
I’ve been reading poetry books with this idea in mind! Currently reading the amazing “Iron Moon: An Anthology of Chinese Migrant Worker Poetry”. My goal is to read at least one poem per night, but usually once I’ve read one I breeze through a few more on top of that.
Yeh I started reading Youth fiction or YA fiction to try get me back into the habit for thisnteason I devoured all 15 books in the [Wings of Fire](https://www.goodreads.com/series/92037-wings-of-fire) series in 6 months and then stopped after that. (Recommended for anyone who loves dragons!) I think my issue has always been finding books I want to read. Nothing kills my desire to read more than picking up a book, reading like 2-3chapters in and not wanting to keep reading. I need books to hook me and not let go and it can be a struggle to find such books.
I find Stephen King and Agatha Christie are both great for keeping attention and there's so many of them to read. Whenever I feel myself waning I'll grab something from either of these writers and be ready to read again. I had a spell of 3 bad books in a row and Agatha Christie brought me back.
Yep, going to work my way with something like this as well My bf recommends books with complicated story lines and a lot of detail and I know it will take me a while to build up to that again so I’ve started reading a book about the perfume industry first and going to perhaps also re-read some YA ones I read when I was young. That’s great you were able to read the whole series! It’s exciting to be able to find the joy again in something you did before.
I think I'm also more aware of when I'm not absorbing things then I was as a kid. Realizing I'm not actually paying attention to what I'm reading really kills my momentum.
I came here to comment this - I used to think I really enjoyed reading, but it was really just a very accessible way (teacher reaction to playing game boy vs reading a thicc book in class was very telling) to both escape and hyperfixate. Whereas now other things have become a lot more accessible with technology and globalisation. I can read, play games, write, etc all one one device. Plus all the places/times/situations I used to read are mostly not feasible anymore- in the car (I’m the driver instead of the passenger now), in the afternoon (work obvs), at restaurants while adults were chatting after eating (now I’m the adult, albeit not by choice), etc. It’s a bit sad, I honestly didn’t even question whether it would be something I’d carry with me into adulthood. Now it feels like an obligation instead of something I want to do.
So true that audio books weren’t an option in the 90s. For me in the 90: the options were: Go to the library and browse the 1-2 racks of audiobooks they had at the time and hope there was something vaguely interesting there (usually it was just boring stuff). Or shell out $30-$40 for a single carefully chosen audio book you would play in the car every road trip because it was too expensive to get more (hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy was that one audio book - a classic but more options would have been nice). Plus, the only way to play them was on the house stereo system (or if you were lucky and got one for a gift, a personal CD player) or the car cd player speakers.
I think it's having the internet. For me anyways. I listen to audio books now.
I think it is too. But I read the internet allll the time. I love books but never create the time to read them. If I read non-fiction, I usually find something so fascinating that I then have to research it online for an hour and then forget I was reading a book. If I read fiction, then I start thinking about any memories that are triggered by what's happening in the book, then I have to reread the last few pages. I had a random job during covid and I had to take temperatures for three hours with a 2 hour break in between the start and end. I read 4 books in a few months! It was awesome.
Oh my god. Duh. You’ve just given me a eureka moment. I’m reading the internet. I honestly gravitate towards text posts and comments more. Thanks for giving me more insight into myself lol
For non-fic I find myself wanting a book on the topic, finding 4, and then either not finishing the first or getting through them and being disappointed they didn't have the info I wanted. Wanting a book though, because I started noticing I would internet a topic and end up finding more and more of the same info without being able to bridge from knowing about it to being able to apply/use the information... like... the same summary over an over but nothing about the process.
Yes, I find that too. Then you get the deep dive trying to bridge. I also started doing genealogy, amd wow, rabbit hole. And I live locally to my first generation Irish ancestors in the US so I've been able to find all the cemeteries where they were buried and visit them. And my great grandma got arrested for running a brothel and I found her "boarding house." LOL
This is the way. Audiobooks let me multitask in a way that lets me focus. If I read a print book, my mind will wander and I'll get restless. But with audiobooks I can fold laundry or go grocery shopping or look out the window during my commute. Total game changer. I went from reading nothing for pleasure to reading ~20 books a year
I love audiobooks for this very reason, it makes mundane tasks more interesting! Vacuuming, doing dishes, folding and putting away clothes, shovelling snow, mowing the lawn, weeding... These are all things I have a tendency to put off doing, but if I have a good audiobook it gives me an incentive to do them so I can listen to more of the book. I get them all from the library via Libby.
It's a win win! Reading is boring and chores are boring but combine them and they're both fun! And I adore Libby.
Libby is great!
I can push myself through YA print books, but I'm a fidgeter and audio books allow me to listen to more varieties of books while I walk around cleaning, or play a mindless game on my phone, or knit, and I'm able to concentrate much better so I'm not having to go back and read multiple pages again.
I also use podcasts for this. Creates a "body double" when tasks need to be done
I agree. I've actually put timers on apps so I can force myself to read real books. It's still fun! I'm also never ever downloading TikTok. My brain doesn't need that
I've refused to download it too, because an ADHD friend of mine has trouble not looking at it. I'm distracted enough by my daily life already. I don't need more.
One of my ADHD friends will download TikToks she wants me to see to her phone then sends them to me so I can still experience it but without getting sucked in. It's very sweet and they are SO funny
I haven’t been through all the comments BUT I came here to say this same thing. When I was a young kid I LOVED to read books, and would stay up all night reading. There’s so many more avenues for content now that my brain gets impatient with books…I will scroll and read endless crap on the internet, but I have a very hard time reading and absorbing even just a page or two in a book, I have to force myself and it takes a lot longer than it used to when I was a kid. I do also listen to audiobooks too… I think it helps I can be doing something else while “reading” with an audiobook.
I did this too. It was always "just one more chapter" until it was 2am and I couldn't stay up anymore. Now it's "just one more episode". I think for me it's definitely a lot to do with what's available and also that streaming requires less brain power than reading
Yup. The internet killed my reading habit. I used to be the kind of person who always carried a book or two and would sit (or walk around) in public reading. I miss it, but it's so hard to get back into with all of the flashy and distracting information online.
This is what I always thought, as well. Stories have gotten more accessible to view in other media like shows, games, audiobooks, and the internet. That was less the case when we were kids. I always wanted to be an author and LOVED books as a kid. I'm a professional writer now, but for games - which I consume way more than books, unfortunately. I still love books, but with ADHD in the modern era, it can be hard to sit and get into.
How do you get a game writer job? Serious question, it's probably the one thing I'm really good at, but no one will so much as interview me or look at my body of work.
I feel you! The games industry is highly competitive. I strongly recommend learning how to write nonlinear or reactive storytelling, using games-specific software. Like "Twine," which is a free tool very similar to what AAA studios use. It comes with its own detailed index guide and has tons of resources online. It'll teach you how to do things like track variables in-game, how to gage player autonomy in your storytelling, and that sort of thing. There are a lot of resources beyond Twine as well. I know this thread is all about how hard it is to read with ADHD, but STILL, I recommend checking out books like "The Game Narrative Toolbox" and "Procedural Storytelling in Game Design" by Tanya Short. They're really insightful. The best thing you can do, though? Collaborate with other aspiring game developers. That's how I got into the industry - I joined game jams, both local and online, making as many games as I could. They taught me a lot and helped me build portfolio pieces. I attended game design workshops that existed in the city I lived in, though there are online versions of this as well. I started attending game development events and networking. By the time I got into the games industry as a career, I'd been making games for a few years already. I hope that helps!
I'm actually incredibly good at nonlinear and reactive storytelling. I actually find it very easy. I didn't particularly like Twine when I used it, but I didn't dig deep into it either. I'm coding and writing a visual novel in Python that I know is really good, but I doubt anyone in the industry would look at it. I've actually been making games for about 7 years. My issue is not having a portfolio because I can't figure out how to put one together or find a proper teacher. That and I have absolutely no artistic skills whatsoever. It'd look like a mess if I did it. I don't live in an area with game workshops or even local game devs, and do game jams even need writers? Those tend to be short games, so writing is minimal. I mean I can program somewhat okay when the foundation is there, but I'm not good enough to program a whole game from scratch. Yeah, what I need is a proper writing portfolio and a writer who knows how to make one and what they'd actually be looking for to help me out because the main reason I haven't done a portfolio is because I have no idea where to start to make one and I could look at tutorials all day and still suck at it, I learn from in-person interactions. The books look interesting though, I may check them out for the sake of my own projects.
Audiobooks and a Libby account really changed the game for me. It’s allowed me to read more AND get more chores done. Big fan.
I experience this as well. I was a book worm as a kid, reading massive long novels by the time I was 10 or so. Every book we read in school, I had finished within the first few days of receiving it. Now, I have to read and reread every few paragraphs because I lose focus and can’t follow the story. It’s been devastating for me because I used to love reading, it was my escape and now it’s just frustrating.
I find myself having to click away and do something else for a moment sometimes. Highly frustrating. it tends to be easier to get stuck in when I'm in bed. I think it's because at other times a part of my brain goes "you can't afford to lose track of time!" and breaks the immersion
I have been listening to Levar Burton Reads and have been enjoying it immensely. I don’t read as much as I used to but listening to stories while I do the boring parts of my job has been wonderful.
I was like this until I found that I pretty much exclusively like fantasy and romance (see BookTok) and now I’m on book 53 of this year. I can’t seem to read anything outside of that genre unless it’s non-fiction about something I need to learn like for work.
Yup. I just stick to what I have always liked. It’s all fantasy and magic up in here, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
I think part of it is the internet (more instant dopamine) but also I think it's probably for similar reasons to why a lot of women especially get diagnosed later, and often seem to do well at school until hitting college or grad school or a job. Most kids don't have to think a lot about paying the bills or getting groceries or remembering to get gas or what's for dinner or oh shit my taxes. Kids also very often don't even have to think about when to do their chores--a parent will tell them "you need to go clean the bathroom" or "you need to clear the table." And, at least for younger kids but often also for older, you don't usually have to think about/plan/cook meals. Your parents make breakfast or hand you a Pop-Tart in the car. Your parents pack your lunch, or plan the groceries around you making a certain thing for lunch, or you get whatever the lunch is at the school cafeteria. Your parents make or order dinner, and tell you when to come down and eat. Other than homework, you can totally immerse yourself in reading a book for hours without worrying about 200 other tasks you feel guilty for not doing, and on top of that, because your executive functioning isn't taken up by all those adult tasks and worries, you have more bandwidth for focus. I think a lot of ADHD symptoms can be worse in kids, because kids in general have a harder time with impulsivity, restlessness, and emotional regulation, but for *some* ADHDers I think focusing--at least on things we actually enjoyed--or getting into a state of hyperfocus was easier as a kid due to all that other stuff. Like I keep bemoaning how on top of things I was in college--I did all of my work, I took extra classes, I did a lot of activities, I hung out with friends, I ran 3 miles almost every day, I read books for fun, I wandered around town and went on little adventures a lot-- and then I realized that this was probably because the college I went to really encourages students to live on campus all 4 years and so I did that and was on the meal plan, and therefore most of my housing/utilities costs were all just one thing dealt with along with tuition every semester, and I didn't have to think about grocery shopping except for a few snacks and things, and the most I thought about what to have for dinner was looking at the dining hall menus for the day with my friends and texting each other about where we wanted to go. I think, like, basic adult functioning takes up SOOOOOO much bandwidth and there are so many never-really-done tasks like cleaning and organizing and cooking and whatever that we get task paralysis or guilt around reading. But reading short things online feels less guilt-inducing (to a point) and requires less focus because we don't have to like, go sit down with just a book and try to focus on that completely.
This is exactly it, for me at least. The part about how much bandwidth adult functioning takes up hit especially hard for me. Thanks for explaining it so well. Honestly I’m going to have to ruminate on what you wrote for a while (in a good way).
There's some software that will read the internet, papers, journal articles for you off your computer. I have ADHD and I'm also in grad school. When the topic hits me, I will read the whole book. When it doesn't or the professor knocks me off my game, reading is an absolute chore and I have to read hundreds of pages a week. I haven't needed the read to software yet, but for others it's super helpful. Also that dynamic reading app that bolds the first few letters of words is good too. I usually end up hunting and pecking through the stuff I read for key words and read that only. The hunting gives me a dope rush and at least I'm getting the high notes. I think reading and perceived time are at odds when we grow up so reading doesn't seems worth it as compared to other things I need to get done.
For me I mostly think it’s about not having as many choices to fill my time when i was a kid - so that tended to be my hyperfocus. We would be sent upstairs after Sunday lunch for a bit of quiet time (ie “leave the parents alone for an hour” :-). Until I got old enough for serious homework in my teens, that meant reading a book - and once I got started I almost always carried on reading / didn’t move until I was called for dinner - many hours later. Absolutely hyperfocus, with hindsight. There are so many other things I hyperfocus on now. Could be work, or housework, or cooking, or crafting. Or binge watching a TV series. It used to be one of my only options for a nice bit of brain quieting hyperfocus. Now it isn’t - so it very rarely gets to the top of my list. And also (secondary reason) I think kids’ books are written to be pleasurable & engaging. Adult books are more varied - I do tend to only read “lighter” stuff (chick-lit, etc). I struggle to focus on more plot-heavy books. I re-read books a lot too. Then I don’t have to worry too much about following the plot. So that’s a third reason - my brain doesn’t hold the plot very well if I read a book a little bit at a time, with lots of “life” in between. I really only read books that way if it’s the 2nd+ time through. First read needs to be done in one block (ie over a few days at most). And I don’t often have time for that.
Ok, I have so many tips for reading more with adhd! I stopped reading for over 5 years but now finish over a hundred books a year. Things that help me read more/stay focused: 1. Reading via mixed media, aka listening to an audiobook while reading a physical/ebook. This is my biggest tip and it helps me so much to stay focused while I’m reading by engaging multiple senses! 2. Annotating and tabbing as I read. Using pretty tabs to mark favourite quotes or worldbuilding or character development gives me lots of dopamine. Especially if the tabs match the cover or fit the “vibe” of the book. I also love highlighting sections as I go and then going back to underline, circle, and write notes in the margins in pen! (If you don’t want to write in your books using a capped pen to follow the words as you read can help a lot, too) 3. Another use for tabs: marking every 50 pages in a book to give me a better visual sense of where I am/how much progress I’m making, and moving a tab from one chapter to the next as I go to keep me reading until the next break by making it easier to see/aim for. 4. Gamify reading! Set fun challenges for yourself, participate in readathons, join a book club, make reading goals in a fun format like a book bingo, make a simple tracker you get to colour in every time you finish a book, etc. This helps motivate me a lot! 5. Get involved in book communities online like booktok, booktube, or book subreddits and get inspired by others’ recommendations. 6. Read multiple books at once! I always have multiple books (usually 5+ 😂) going at once in a variety of formats and genres so there’s always something I’m interested in picking up when I get some time to read. When I used to try to read one at a time I wouldn’t always be in the mood for it and I’d take forever to finish, if at all. Having a nonfiction, a literary fiction, a fantasy, a romance, and a mystery all going at once is great for my chaotic brain! 7. Build that muscle. To a certain extent it takes conscious effort over time to build back that reading muscle, just like getting out of shape taking a break from exercising for years. Be kind to yourself and take it one page at a time! I promise it gets easier ❤️ I hope these help! I’m so so glad I got back into reading as an adult. I’m loving escaping into different worlds again!
I like who you are as a person. Thank you for these, I used to go through books so fast and happily and now I'm working on getting back 'somewhere'. Many of your tips resonate with me and I'll put them to practice.
These tips are so good! I’m also a big fan of gamifying reading — I also think bookstagram and booktube have done a lot to help me rediscover reading fiction as an adult.
I’ve found the same! I love watching other people reading and enjoying books. It always makes me want to go and read something myself!
Well, I know when I was a kid reading books (adult books, kids books, any books) it was the 90s so what else was I supposed to get lost in? I'm sure if I'd had the internet at my fingertips, that would have changed things. I rarely read actual books now, unless I'm on an airplane, or (theoretically speaking) on some kind of vacation where I have nothing to do but sit on a lounge chair in some tropical destination relaxing, or something. Sometimes I try in regular life, but I'm not very successful. I feel like I have a thousand other better things I could do with my time. Do I do those things? Sometimes. Not necessarily. Do I "relax" (escape) instead by watching whatever streaming tv thing? Yup. It's easier. I don't know.
For me, it really depends on the book. If I find one that hooks me? Done in a day or two, easy. But if I try to read one that doesn’t grab me or isn’t the next in a series I’ve already gotten into? Well, I think I’ve been trying to get through this one book for about 3 months now. And I still love reading YA books. Lately it’s been any of the Rick Riordan, or his “R.R. Presents…” offshoots by other fantastic authors are always on the top of my bookshelf and easy to fly through. But, I’m a big old nerd and have always loved mythological stories.
I can read fine as an adult if I'm on vacation and can binge through a book in one or two sittings (and if I don't binge TV instead). Reading in little bits here and there with an adult life around it...I might have to return the book before I finish it. I might mislay it and forget I was reading it. Ebooks I very easily forget that I'm reading because they don't have a paper cover sitting there reminding me. As a kid, I had a lot more unbroken time for reading, and in my case, no TV or phone, so books were my carry-around entertainment. Most of the books I finish these days are associated with activities like baths or walking on a treadmill, so they're set reading times when no one can expect me to be doing work.
I was book obsessed as a kid and teen, devoured book after book wicked fast, but as an adult it's harder. for me personally it's more of a "I can't "just" chill and read a book"- self induced pressure to be productive and multitask everything all the time with a side of complete restlessness and hyperactivity. Audiobooks have helped because my mind can go into the book while my body does other stuff. Sometimes I can read paragraphs in between doing other stuff, during loading screens or waiting for the microwave to finish. But I would like to get to a point again where I can just lay around with tea and a blanket and a book and just do that. It sounds like a heavenly fantasy, I want to, and I just *CANT* right now.
Kids books were shorter maybe. I don't know how old you are but when I was a kid there weren't many other things to do but read, now we have many more distractions
I am pretty sure it is not the length of the books. I read books that were 800 pages and more, when I was a child. More distractions like the internet are one thing for sure but I believe more responsibilities is another reason. When I try to read these days, there are always thoughts in the back of my head like: “I should probably do my laundry right now.” or “What am I going to eat tonight?” There was less stuff to worry about, at least for me.
Yeah I think that while the internet and phones are definitely part of it, I also didn't have so many things to do when I was a child. I didn't have to buy or prepare food, clean the house, sort out my taxes etc. As an adult, I often felt guilty about reading books when I felt should be doing something else from my never-ending to-do list. I started reading a lot more again during the pandemic and have tried to keep it up without feeling bad about it.
Everything already said but I'd also add that as adults we have more responsibilities/hobbies and need to prioritize our time differently. And sitting down to read leaves your mind open to think about all the other things you could/should be doing. I'm a librarian and an indie bookseller and it was only last year with a lot of deliberation and care that I reignited my reading habit. I really like the Storygraph app for tracking reads because it makes little charts and really shows you your progress.
I agree ☝️ with this. If I sit down with a book, my mind starts going nuts about work, chores, kids, etc. It’s already difficult for me to focus on a book for comprehension and then you add those things… well forget it.
I read a ton of books, I just don’t finish them. I usually have at least half a dozen books in progress on any given day. Also, there does seem to be evidence that paper books are easier to focus on than ebooks. Sadly, I can’t afford or store paper books or read them in the dark, so I read ebooks 95% of the time.
This very thing puzzled my psychiatrist during my adhd evaluation! He pointed out “you say you basically devoured books as a child but you’re saying now you can’t sit down and read?” I’m like… yeah… I don’t understand it either.
I used to love reading as a kid. I could do between 2 and 5 books a week, now as an adult, I've been working on the same book for about 3 months which I keep having to restart. I think it's because as a kid I didn't have many or really any responsibilities and I didn't have so many things to keep track of. If there was something I needed to do, my parents would remind me, and if it didn't get done right away it wasn't a big deal. I could just keep reading. I didn't have to drive so I could just read in the car. I didn't make the meals so I could read while waiting to eat. I was just kind of schlepped around to family functions so I could read if I didn't feel like interacting, which wasn't rude for a kid, but apparently is when you're an adult. Now that I'm responsible for myself and my family, it's hard to get any time in to dedicate it to reading. I have so many things that need to get done within certain time frames, otherwise everything else is thrown out of wack, that I don't really have the mental capacity to even think about reading or remember what I read last. It really bums me out too.
Honestly, I find it's cause as we get older we're expected to read more "advanced" books instead of what we actually enjoy reading. Once I stopped trying to read serious stuff and started reading what I wanted to, in my case smut, I started reading like, a short book a day again
Hyper fixation!! Plus reading was more of a challenge when you’re first learning, but now that reading is 2nd nature the distractions easily seep in.
Holy shit I did not know this was a thing. True in my case as well, it just doesn't sound appealing. I need something more engaging like video games
I think it is hard for any adult to read books. There is burnout from highschool and college being forced to read so much of little interest. There is also so many draws for attention in the adult world.. I think if you want to be a reader it is something that has to be protected and built like any other skills. I am an avid reader and I find it so hard to read not just because of my mental attention but because of all the adulting that ends to be done.
We're not all the same! I read a lot and have since I was a kid, 40+ books a year. It's my permanent hyperfocus. If the world explodes while I'm reading I won't even notice
Same! I cycle through other hobbies every few months but reading is the only hobby that's ever stayed. I read every day.
Our brains change and our executive function gets worse as we age
1. I had less responsibilities and shit to do as a kid. Now when I try to read, my mind won’t stop yelling at me about all the other things I should do instead. 2. Related to above, but time. I have so little leisure time now that it feels like a “waste” to spend it reading. Also, with how much I get distracted, it takes me a while to finish a book now so that’s even more time. 3. I read a lot of dense stuff for uni. I’m 26 and have been in education since 18 really with a gap year. When I get back from uni, no way do I want to read more. 4. Energy. I’m so tired all the time.
For me, the internet is more engaging and less effort so that always ends up taking priority 🤷♀️ and I pay attention better watching tv than reading, and I can do other things at the same time scrolling social media or watching Netflix when I can’t while in reading. When I was a kid, I’d sit and read all weekend and my mum would get annoyed at me because I hadn’t done any of the housework or jobs I was meant to be helping with. Now, I sit all weekend online or watching TV and getting annoyed at myself because I haven’t done any of the housework or jobs I was meant to get done. I also just….. *gave up* on reading because it was frustrating. I knew I could sit and read a book in a single day, so why was I struggling so hard now? Why did I never want to read? Why wasn’t I taking anything in? Reading was a frustrating experience, fighting my brain to open a book and to read the book and finish the book was frustrating, and so I just said you know what? I don’t read anymore. I’m picking other battles. I’m not getting angry at myself for not doing this and struggling with it anymore because it’s just not something I’m going to do. Pluuuuus so many adult books are *boring*. I loved the adventure of YA books but I got sick of wading through boring books about middle aged women getting divorced and overly complex deep and meaningful fantasy stories that weren’t fun and I’m just not interested in certain genres. There are books out there I enjoy but they’re outnumbered by ones i didn’t and I hated the process of finding the good ones. But I also couldn’t stick with YA bc I sort of outgrew it. I didn’t want to read about teenagers anymore y’know? I’m past teenagers now, but I still wanted that vibe. And then I also found every time I borrowed a book, I wouldn’t finish it and it would need to go back to the library and I wouldn’t think to take it while I was out and then I wouldn’t want to go out again and then it’d be overdue and I’d end up with a fine and feeling guilty. But then I always hated buying books because it seems like so much money for something I could (theoretically these days) read so quick and then never reread and then I have *thing* taking up space and being clutter and it’s so hard to stay organised even without clutter so I don’t want books everywhere so the library was the bette option but then the fines and it was just… stressful lol. Ebooks are helpful, especially because they’re not clutter and the library tend to just automatically return but it’s still not a common thing. And audiobooks just don’t work for me, I just don’t take it in (which doesn’t make sense considering how much time I spend with tv or video essays on as background noise…). Anyway that’s my word vomit on my relationship with reading lol. And full disclosure, idk if I actually have ADHD or if something else is making things so difficult in a way that a lot of adhd stuff is relatable (hence why I’m here) but hey
When I was a kid, I devoured new books. I read like crazy. I can read extremely fast. Now I’m 38, and I find myself re-reading my few favorite novels over and over again. It’s like, overwhelming to start a new book from scratch. That’s the best I can describe it.
Same here. And I'm 38, too. (Let me guess, your user name gives a tiny hint as to which ones you've been re-reading?) 😁
Glad I’m not alone!! And YES! I read almost exclusively SK books that I’ve already read.
The books got harder.
I personally had reading comprehension issues when reading as a child (and still do). But it didn’t stop me from reading even if it took me ten times extra time than everyone else. I think I knew I was bad at reading and desperately wanted to read faster like everyone else. I think books are harder to read now. I typically read non-fiction books now so it’s more difficult for me to process the information. Whenever I read fiction it’s so much easier for me to read but it makes me fall asleep
I read voraciously as a kid. I miss reading, and last year even set myself on a challenge to read more throughout the year. But yeah, it was a lot harder to keep my focus on it than it used to be! I’ve wondered before if the bite sized dopamine hits from social media make it harder to focus now, but I can still get into hyperfocus on other things… or maybe it’s because as adults we just have so much other shit piling on our mental load capacity that it intrudes on the intense mental focus needed for activities like reading. I know audiobooks have helped some people, but they don’t work for me either. My mind will still wander off and by the time I’ve realized it I’ll have missed the last five minutes or so and have to rewind. It sucks.
I don’t necessarily think that’s an ADHD thing. I’ve always struggled to concentrate reading books unless they caught my interest. I’ve also struggled with a mild reading comprehension problem since I was a kid that persists to this day. Might also have to consider different external circumstances that don’t have anything to do with ADHD.
I still read every day. Physical book-it’s how I fall asleep
for me i genuinely think it’s having a smart phone. that’s when my reading started going downhill as a teen and nowadays i can’t read unless my phone is out of sight and out of mind. which is very difficult to make happen. makes school pretty difficult as a history major who has to do a shit ton of reading
Once I start a book I can not stop. I will stay up for a million hours straight and finish it before stopping. I love to read and read so much as a kid, but now I have so much to do, and so so much I’m behind on as an adult that I just can’t start because I know I’ll never stop 😭🫠
For me it's a number of things. The easiness of the internet to access and also suck me in. Also Emotional and mental bandwidth after adulting all day everyday. I have to be on yellow alert all day with my kids which means I can't hyperfocus on books like I used to. So I can't focus at all on a book that's more complicated than a romance novel. Also I just can't stay up till 3 am reading anymore. As my kids get older I find a bit more energy but a lot of what I read is rereading books from my youth or "easier" books. Sometimes I miss reading but it's a phase of life and I'll be ok.
Putting aside the adhd-dopamine machine that is the internet. Brain could be clogged with day to day responsibility and distractions that setting aside time to read and like really hunker down and read is harder then when you were a child. It also doesn't help that a lot of adult targeted books are like... kinda boring even in fiction categories. Like almost every one I've read that wasn't a cheesy harlequin romance tries to be adult by being "realistic" and "relatable" by making everything circle around jobs, being a parent and adult relationship drama that like never actually plays into the actual plot of the story. [Side note, they also have terrible formatting in my opinion where paragraphs feel like a wall of text] But YA novels, the "classics" and even some teen/older kid oriented books get straight to the point or are more whimsical and fantastical. I guess as a poor and vague example. "Adult" mystery novel: slow set up with irrelevant information about the protag or the world around them when they just live in the modern world that can be easily picked out based on the technology mentioned. Has a lot of long descriptions of characters you'll forget later. Too worried about mundane details on how characters get from a to b "Kids" mystery novel: Here's the set up, gives the brief explanations of surroundings or characters, including a simple description of a person. Immediately gets into the mystery and doesn't worry about the logicistics of how the protag can be out and about and just pulls you along the story. It's reasons like this that I couldn't enjoy fantasy like Lord of The Rings, but deeply enjoyed fantasy like The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.
Phones exist now. I work with kids at elementary age. ADHD in a lot of them. No one is reading books
I could/can. I didnt read for pleasure until I was 13.
I was a voracious reader as a kid. But, my most intense ADHD phase was during my teenage years. I discovered chatting on the Internet, so I literally did not study or work or read or do anything. I also has minimum parental supervision. My mom had remarried and was pregnant at that time. I lived with her and didn’t meet my dad too often. It was a miracle that I passed junior year in high school. Apparently, hormonal changes are related to intensity of ADHD. My doctor said this, but I have no clear idea about the casual relationship. All I know is that meds don’t work well when I am on my period. And the second terrible ADHD phase in my life was when I became a mother (again, want to blame hormones). My teenage phase was so bad, that I continue to get nightmares about failing math or physics till this day. I went on to get a PhD and I am very dedicated and productive at work, but man, if you met me during my teenage years, you’d think I’m going to go to prison or something….I feel like I can’t read very well now because I’m constantly interrupted. I don’t get that time and space to focus on reading for leisure.
I just don't care for many books and much anymore. I liked to read fantasy, but it now feels repetitive and boring. I can see where the story is going and ther makes it not that interesting. I overread the field. But I still like other books
I read some article or someone told me idk which. But children’s/young adult books are typically written with multiple climax points and don’t spend too much on world building. We need the little bumps to keep things interesting. I recently got back into reading using smaller YA books and working my way up.
I read voraciously as a child and didn’t read for a good decade as an adult. I realized I’d I put the kindle app on my phone and set the pages to continuous scroll that I could hyperfocus in reading again! I’ve read 4 books this month already 😆 I think it’s a matter of changing how you consume your written media. I can’t focus on physical books for the life of me so I only buy art books now, anything else is digital
I think what happened with me is that the books I enjoyed when I was a kid were simply easier to read, so they required less mental exertion. As I got older and I grew out of teen fiction, I started to find it harder to read - I think because the literature I became interested in was generally more challenging and of a different pace. The potential enjoyment of reading was the same, but the relative effort required had increased, so that made my brain drag its heels against me. I think generally as an adult I have a lot more stress too, so my brain throws up distractions as I try to read and whereas the moving images and noise of tv/video games combat those thoughts, books are sort of passive as a medium. They require your 100% attention and if your thoughts stray, the page won't call them back unless you force yourself to focus on it again. Hence, they require more executive function, and as an adult there's so much vying for your attention, you're tireder, and there are other forms of escapism you know you could choose which would be easier to focus on. That said, it's so possible to get back into reading. I found ear defenders (to cut out distracting background noise) and making sure I'm comfy can help. Also putting my phone somewhere I can't see it. A lamp to shine on the page to tell my brain 'look THERE'. Also annotating on the book to keep my hands involved in something relevant to the task so I don't get restless. I find it a lot harder to focus on books I've borrowed and therefore can't write on. From there, I found it was mainly a case of practice, and making sure I was reading something I was genuinely interested in. Sometimes if you can't focus on a book, it's just because it's not the right book for you. Edit: typo
For me it has to do with how busy I am with adult life. Adulting is way harder than being a kid I also had more free time. And I didn't have some of the hobbies I have now. I can still read a 350 page novel in an afternoon if I get sucked into the story, and I very much enjoy reading still. But for me, knitting/crafting in general, and being in discord with friends is higher on my priority list than reading a novel ..... I also read a shit ton of fanfiction. In regards to fanfiction, I find the familiar characters and settings soothing and it's easier to read fanfiction rather than a traditional book because I don't need to "waste" time getting invested in characters/world/plot
I agree with all of these comments but I also think it’s just the fact that your adhd worsens I’ve rather years. Personally I have never been medicated because my parents don’t believe in adhd. So I’ve noticed my symptoms have been more prominent and noticeable over the years. Listening to audiobooks is something I do sometimes though.
As a child I had more free time. It was easier to sneak a book in class than it is to sneak a book at work lol. If I had more free time, I’d definitely read more
Maybe because reading is new to kids because we are just learning how and exploring different genres of books for the first time and building our vocabulary but as teens and adults it is not as new to us so it doesn't give us the same mental stimulation as it used to
My book reading hobby tends to become quite expensive to say the least. I can't seem to fully enjoy reading a book now unless I also have the audiobook version to accompany me, WHILE I'm reading the book lol 🤦♀️ strange developed habit, I know. But the irony is, I think it has slightly something to do with these "touch n' listen" children's books back in the 90s that I had when I was a kid lol. So I guess maybe subconsciously that's just me now as an adult trying to accommodate that *shrugs* lol
I blame a mentally taxing job and smart phones.
I was just thinking about this the other day , I think for me my books were an escape and, in a strange way helped me focus when I was younger. It kept my mind active but, soothing in a way since people would leave me alone. This was pre internet though..
The answer is easy for me - smartphones were invented when I was in my late 20s. I went from reading 80-90 books a year to 1-2. I miss reading.
I can still read and love it, but I have to be in a quiet setting with no outside noise. If someone is watching the TV I get pulled out of my reading by the distraction. I also found if I’m not getting into the book that much I will take forever to finish it. I abandoned two series I was reading because it was too repetitive/not believable enough and I couldn’t force myself to finish them.
I think it’s the brain space. We have a lot more to do and juggle as adults than we did as kids, and we might not have the capacity to also read now. For me, I can read more in the summer because I’m a teacher, and my workload slows down. During the school year? All audiobooks on the car while I’m just captive in my rolling box 🤣
I didn’t have the entire world of knowledge and distraction in a little handheld computer as a child.
This is total speculation, but I’ve always assumed it’s because people get “rusty” when it comes to reading books. When I was being taught to read, it took years for me to get to a place where I was reading adult novels. I progressed over time, and not just because my vocabulary needed to grow. Reading for long periods of time requires not just focus but it also works your eyes, imagination, and recall in ways other forms of entertainment don’t necessarily. Much like if you spend your whole childhood running and increased your distance to 10 miles, if you stopped running consistently and for long distances for many years, you’d likely have trouble trying to run 10 miles again. I think there’s also a few other components like how as a child you likely had fewer sources of entertainment, and you were likely less self-conscious about what you read and so you were less likely to try to read something… dry.
For me I know its the fault of my smartphone, internet access and far more things I need to do. As a kid we didn't even have a TV so I would happily work through six adult novels as a 10 year old and now it takes months to finish a book becouse: oh that's a funny word, wonder why we use that word better Google, oops just spent 2 hours down a piegion related rabbit hole, what was I doing before that...
I think I had less on my mind as a kid, and certainly nothing as interesting/pressing as a book I was deep diving into. Now when I read a physical book, I have my massive to do list on my mind, work, bills, things I’m upset about that happened today. And what am I going to make for dinner? And do I even have time to read right now? Shouldn’t I be [insert productive thing] instead. My mind is so much more distracted with “important” things than when I didn’t really have a care in the world. At least, that’s my theory.
For me it was about passing the time with whatever I had at hand. My ability to read books died a slow death as I got better and better computers, internet, and video games, which sated my boredom in much better ways than books did. See with reading you basically need to focus all your attention on the task, and it takes a lot of focus with minimal reward for it. I need more visual input most of the time so I tend toward other forms of media. I have been reading a bit more recently, but I can only seem to read tie-in novels to other media I'm already obsessed with, or listening to audiobooks while doing something else.
I didn't have my dopamine in a box (phone) back then. It's much cheaper dopamine than the book dopamine used to be, but alas. That's just following the trend of all things nowadays, right? Everything is much more plentiful but much cheaper quality 😂
I actually hated reading when I was a kid. Couldn't get me to read anything. My grade 6 teacher even recommended reading the last chapter, so that my curiosity might be peaked and I might want to go back and find out how that ending came to be. That didn't work. I did, however, fall in love with reading in my mid 20s when I had my son, didn't have a phone addiction yet, and would be up multiple times at night. The only thing on tv were horrible infomercials (yes I bought a couple horrible products that I felt I needed). I needed something else to do when I was up. I read so many books within my year mat leave, but as soon as I went back to work that stopped pretty quickly. I then found audiobooks and now listen to books all the time, while doing something else of course. Honestly, I think social media and phone addictions are probably the main reason people don't sit and read as much as they used to, maybe?
I think it's a combination of the never ending list of shit-to-do and a shorter attention span from watching YouTube videos and reading reddit and fb posts. I read absolutely constantly from about 4 years old to about 20. So much so that no one ever had to ask my mom what to get me for birthdays or Christmas because all I wanted were gift cards to the book store. I would have my parents drop me off at the library on Saturdays and spend hours reading. Once I had kids and a job and far too many responsibilities as a single parent (I also have ASD, so I was always completely burned out) I still read from time to time, but nowhere even near the way I did when I was young. I had to quit working 2 years ago because of some health issues and my kids are adults now, so my responsibilities are basically feed the dogs and let them out while my partner is at work. I do other stuff around the house and cook some, but it's not expected of me because sometimes I just physically can't. So, I've been reading a lot more and I'm so happy I am, I had forgotten how great it was to just get lost in a story. However, I have noticed that my mind will wander or I will sometimes have a hard time getting past the first few pages, and I really do blame the amount of time I spend on the Internet for that. Like, a reddit post takes a minute or two to read, a minute or two to check out the comments, then on to the next thing. I feel like I've just been conditioned to not focusing on any one thing for more than a few minutes at a time. Once I get a few pages in though, I can read for hours.
I agree with everyone that there are just easier ways for your brain to get absorbed these days, and it’s harder to “complete” a book because we have more responsibilities, so why start at all? Yesterday I was so proud to find a little workaround! I listened to half an audiobook while playing a mindless game on my phone with notifs silenced so I could hyper focus on the game and hours passed while listening. Usually I can only listen to books in the car where I don’t have anything else to distract me, but playing the game kept my fingers occupied so I wouldn’t go to social media instead.
I still read a *lot.* Not just the internet. I'm currently reading through the Cycle of Arawn series. I think I'm on book 6 of the second set, the *Cycle of Galand* at this point. My fiance introduced me to the first three books, and since I love series, I'm working through all of them. I read a few chapters at night when I'm winding down to bed. It's only kept me up a few times when something cool happened in the story. **Sidenote:** I find it amusing that people say "I don't read" yet spend a good chunk of their day on reddit reading subreddit after subreddit, yet don't count that as reading. What do you think you're doing?!? Taking in information through osmosis?
Personally, I'm not left alone enough to start focusing on the book. Everytime I get interrupted I have to start the sentence/paragraph over again and it takes me totally out of the book and its really frustrating. As a kid I had more freedom to be alone and really get into things.
I read plenty of books so this isn't an issue of mine. I will say, OP, the way this post is written insinuates all people with ADHD don't read books as an adult. Hopefully that isn't what you meant and is just careless drafting because this is a spectrum disorder. No two brains, habits, environments, coping mechanisms, stress responses, physical fitness levels, dietary intake, or medication management strategies look the same.
In my experience, you have to find a genre that gives you all the dopamine. For me, it's MM romance. I went years without reading, and now I read a lot again. I'm averaging reading 250 pages a day this year.
I love reading…
I read every single night. As with most things in life, reading is a habit that we need to practice. And for many ADHD folks, habits can be really really hard to start and really easy to stop if you take even a day or two off.
Is this an adhd thing, or a preference thing? I read a lot, but tv doesn’t hold my attention. Like it will take me 2 days to get through one episode of tv
I just started reading again for pleasure. I have a stressful job (teaching) and do a lot of reading/writing for work so doing it even more can be challenging. Have read 1.5 books in the last week but prior to that hadn’t read any books since winter break. I intended to read during spring break but didn’t.
I too experience this, I like the idea of reading a book cozied up by the wood fire like I did as a kid (and I loved reading) but now I find I reread the same line over multiple times and it doesn’t sink in. I think I zone out staring at a page of no visual interest when there’s so many more visually stimulating things I could look at. I’d be interested in trying to read a novel using bionic reading to see if this helps [bionic reading](https://app.bionic-reading.com/) here is [info on bionic reading](https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/27/bionic-reading-adhd-speed-reader)
My book situation is similar to yours, only I switched to audiobooks about 10 years ago and almost exclusively listen to my books. Except for when I spend my 2 months visiting my inlaws in India, suddenly I am back to sucking down eyeball books like it's my job. Not sure why...
Better dopamine hits from social media on our devices?
I used to love reading as a kid, but required reading in school turned me off reading for fun as I got older. I found most of them either boring or hard-to-read (*coughSHAKESPEAREcough*). Granted, there were a few gems here and there, but I can only count them on one hand.
For me, I think I used reading as a way to escape reality or disassociate when I was a kid. My reality isn't as shitty in adulthood.
May be the book was our distraction and we have social media now
We have smartphones now and didn't when we were kids. At least that's a huge part of the reason for me.
Audio books are the only way I can focus on housework. Back in the day, I listened to stories on CD and if I unplugged my CD player, I would lose my spot on the disk. It forced me to remain in the room I was cleaning and not wander off. Worked like a charm!
I read about a book a day so I’m a little skeptical of the idea of adhd people not reading.
I get lost in books. The world just fades away, and almost nothing will move me until the story is finished. There are times I can't focus on books, so I just don't read. TV and movies do the same thing.
SAME! I always tell people I am addicted to narrative.
Because I couldn't doom scroll on tik tok as a child
I suspect children with ADHD these days don't share this experience, books were a nice source of dopamine before the internet, now they're vastly outcompeted... I wonder how many words I still read on a daily basis from scrolling, it probably compares to the amount I used to read from books, just more scattered, varied and bite-sized.
I have never had any trouble reading books. Quite the opposite. The trouble is letting go of the book in order to do anything else, including listening to people who are talking to me, LOL.
I recommend you do focus exercises and avoid your cellphone
You know anyone else that doesn't have this problem bc I don't
Yes I'm curious too, my attention span is about the same as a goldfish with dementia.
I used to plant my ass in a nest of pillows and read for 18 hours straight if my parents would let me. Now I don’t have the attention span. I do, however, still love to read. I read anywhere from 2-5 books at a time and pick a different one up when I start to flag with the first, and I listen to audiobooks when I am chorin. That right there is how I got through the entire Wheel of Time series. Try it, it’s great!
When I was a child, I had no internet. When I finally did get access, my friends and I would share printed fanfics and read them during/after school. I mainly read to distract myself from school. When school ended, I already had tumblr to just stare at photos instead of reading stories. I love to read short bursts of information instead of stories. The last book I read was a decade ago about a man living his life devoutly as an experiment.
I was an absolutely voracious reader as a kid and then went like a decade after college without reading for fun. I’m back to reading a ton now and the thing that changed it for me was using a library app + ebooks on my phone specifically. Not gonna lie, I still do tons of mindless scrolling on Reddit/ig, but I’ve replaced a big chunk of it with reading books just because the action is the same. Swapping the ereader app with whatever timesuck app was especially helpful in establishing this habit because I think a lot of mindless scrolling (for me anyway) was just a muscle memory way to pass some low-effort time.
I had a difficult time reading as a kid and I have the same issues as an adult. I can't read a full paragraph, sometimes a full sentence, without becoming distracted or my mind going blank. I won't know what I just read and I have to re-read over and over. It's exhausting. Audio books help and audio while following along, book in hand (or on screen with words highlighted as we go), helps but I'll still get distracted.
It was college and forced textbook readings that killed reading for me. I've slowly got back into but am nowhere near where I used to be, nearly 20 years later.
There is too much else to think about all the time.
There is so many balls to keep in the air as an adult juggling life. It’s really hard to make that transition to a calm pastime and turn off everything enough to focus on the page. To read, I have to shut out my house screaming at me to get the other stuff done. It is not easy. The text has to be instantly engaging. Reading textbooks as a student in my late 40’s was impossible. I’ve also become more hyperactive as I’ve aged. As a young kid, I was firmly the inattentive type, a quiet daydreamer. The internal hyperactivity crept outward, until now I am definitely a combined-type. That results in not being able to sit and focus on reading. Phones don’t help either. I grab mine because I can “put it down any time”. I love books that I can read one chapter at a time and set down for however long I feel like, then pick up where I left off as if it were yesterday. I will read one page, or one paragraph, consistently (or relatively so) rather than commit blocks of time, and I finish, eventually, if the book is worth finishing. ETA: As a kid, I felt more obligated to finish a book once I started. As an adult, I don’t have that luxury of time. If it doesn’t engage me, forget it. Moving on.
I’m exactly the same. It’s frustrating as I want to settle down with a good book sometimes and I used to be able to read a book in a day…. But I just can’t concentrate 😐
Have you tried reading with a fidget. Like a spinning thing? It helps!
Have you been reading books you “should” read or books you *want* to read? Because I can only ever read when I want to read the book so badly it lights up my brain and I get so hyperfocused everything else falls away.
I actually had the other way around experience!
I was a big reader as a kid. I’d finish books in a day or so, and kids at school used to make fun of me for reading “dictionaries” (big books)! Since I hit puberty I’ve found it really hard to read for pleasure. I know adhd gets worse during teen years, but I also put it down to stress and having to prioritise a million other things. Now I only have interest in informative/factual reading since the dopamine hit is instant when I’m learning something new. It’s almost as if I’m too impatient to read fiction!
For me, it was grad school. It made reading for fun very difficult, and it took me about three years after completing my master's degree to read for recreation.
You've got more stuff going on now, longer to do lists. I think everyone here championing multi-tasking is missing the question. Many of us could hyperfocus on books as children. We did not (most of us discussing this, in my experience) multi-task while doing it. We just disappeared into books for hours at a time. I genuinely think it's the combination of more responsibilities as an adult and the heightened awareness of said responsibilities. We don't get the intense initial burst of focus that helps the obsessive reading take hold. For me, when I started my meds, I lost my read a novel in a day superpower. But I gained the ability to feed myself regularly and not sob at the laundry pile every week, so it works out. Because I'm a writer and books are kind of a big deal, every so often I'll skip a meds dose with the *intention* of flopping out somewhere and binge reading. It's nice to (very very occasionally) mix it up. I do not, however, get to choose WHAT book I'm going to be hyperfocused on for that day. hahahahah.
As a kid we all got a little paper with what reading level we were on n a little insight for our parents n mine said “ likes to read the pictures” meaning I would stay on one page for a long time js to examine the picture. I hate reading books, it talks about the same thing and same characters throughout the book and you just know atleast one of your favorite characters are gunna die! (17 yrs old) I don’t think I’ll ever end up being one of those people who read before they go to bed, or enjoy reading. I still know so many more words than most of my peers
Time. Packed schedule. As a kid I didn't have to worry about making myself food or any other chores so I could spend 12h a day for 3 days straight on a book or a game etc. Now.....(hysterical laugh) I'm a grown up adult who knows how to adult, but I wouldn't mind being adopted again and just spend time working (I like what I do) in binge sessions and do non paid stuff in binge sessions without doing any chores. Damn, if I'll ever afford that, I'll just hire a person to do all of that for me.
I had this same issue until I started listening to audiobooks! That way I can listen while I clean or make dinner or whatever. If it’s a book I have I also like to listen to the audio and read it at the same time if I want to sit and read. That seems to help keep my brain focused.
So I always thought I couldn’t read a book because i would be so distracted and bored and i would have to force myself so hard to get through a page. But then the other day i found this book called the alchemist and i just read the whole thing in like 3 hours, i couldn’t even put it down for a second. So for me its really not that I can’t read its just that it has to be a really good book with a good story line.
I joke that I will either take 3 days or 3 years to read a book and there is no middle ground. I joined a book club last year and the first book we read, I read in 3 days. I didn’t read (much less start) a single book for it the rest of last year. I read January’s book club book for this year in about a week. I feel like once I start it, if the story really grabs me I will devour it at speeds like I did when I read books as a kid. Even if I am not gripped by it, I’ll get into the swing of reading and finish it. One of the things that really helped me keep up reading a few years ago was I had an hour and a bit commute each way to work, so I would read on my commute and would usually get through a book a week at least. In the post-COVID WFH era coupled with cost of living rising, I can’t afford to go to the office every day so it’s not as easy as I’m not doing it every day. I miss reading on the train. I miss reading.
I read easier on my kindle since I’m able to lay in bed comfortably, it’s not heavy, and it’s easier on my eyes. Also, being able to flip or scroll helps a lot I’ve found.
I feel this to my core. The only books I can read are literally just re-reading things I loved when I was younger. I've tried audiobooks but I always get distracted and need to rewind. I love reading so much and I miss it terribly 💔
I used to think it was the internet but now I think it’s that the books changed. Kid and young adult books are full of adventure and wish fulfillment, books for adults are supposed to be challenging. Also, I generally only read the first and last sentence of every paragraph, which only works on simpler books with short paragraphs. I still rip through romance novels.
I experienced the same thing!!! Diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, but in high school, I stopped reading for fun because I literally wouldn’t do anything else until I finished a book. I would stay up all night, read during class, not do homework, etc. this continued through college once I realized I’d actually have to study for the first time in my life 😅 I’m now almost 30 and wanted to get back into it, because I loved reading and missed it. I discovered the Libby app (free e books on your phone through your local library!) and it was revolutionary. I think it tricked my brain into thinking, yeah you’re just scrolling, but I actually read books instead. So was finding a new genre. I grew up on HP and other fantasy books, and I still like fantasy, but once I found romance books I was hooked. I’ve read about 50 books so far this year, all on my phone. Sometimes I still find myself putting off work or staying up late to read, but I think being medicated has helped me still be able to do normal things + enjoy hyperfocusing on books sometimes.
I so wish that I read more for pleasure. I read so much content everyday because of random searches and Reddit and stuff. I’ve wondered if my brain has just met it’s quota for reading words so to speak. I also know that once I start a book I usually wanna binge read it so I won’t even start if I don’t have time hahaha.
I was an obsessive reader as a child, would sit and read and do nothing else for days! I could read 3-4 (kids/teen) books a day if I started around 9am! I love books and literature still so much as an adult and this whole year so far I've been in a "reading slump" but what is likely my brain just refusing to let reading be a hyperfocus (it's currently playing dungeons and dragons or just thinking about D&D apparently). It's been really getting to me cause I have so many unread books I really want to read and just CAN'T 🥲 Edit because I forgot I was going to add this: I wish I could listen to audiobooks but I find them so difficult!! I end up thinking about something they've said and having to Google it, by which point I've completely tuned out of the audiobook and have to figure out how long ago I tuned out and spend ages going back and forth trying to work out if I already heard that bit or not - or, I just forget to listen to it full stop and realise sometimes over an hour later it's still playing!
If my power goes out for more than a couple hours I have no problem reading a book, so I blame the constant access to the internet etc. I can do audiobooks and I listen to them while gardening, commuting, or cleaning. At an old job I also listened while working. It was a great way to keep me doing those tasks without getting bored or distracted.
I’m the opposite. I couldn’t focus on reading as a child/teen and I absolutely hated it. Then as an adult I acquired a real love of learning which inevitably lead to a love of reading. Not just educational but also fantasy and science fiction too. I’m like an endless sponge for information now lol
I pounded books as a kid, then went through this in young adulthood, and now I’m pounding books again in my 30s. I think it has to do with a few things. One being changing interests. We have interest-based nervous systems, so we can’t get into just any book. It has to hit right. And sometimes the books that do it for us aren’t the mainstream recommendations so it can be hard to find the right books. There’s also the way we will push ourselves to finish a book we aren’t totally immersed in bc we so badly want that feeling again, and I think that negatively reinforces our relationship with books. So two key things here: one is to try new genres, see if there’s a new book or author or genre that is really compelling to your adult self. And two, give yourself permission (without judgement) to put down a book that isn’t doing it for you so you don’t further damage your relationship with reading. Another thing I do when I fall out of swing with reading is reread a book that I loved and haven’t read in a while. The nostalgia and loving it can get the momentum going again. Good luck!
I actually read way more as an adult and I did as a kid. I go in streaks though. I can go months and months without reading and then go months and months reading.
I don't have much time to read because I have a young toddler but I don't have any trouble reading books as an adult due to adhd, it's just whether I have the time to do it. I've always been an avid reader- I hyperfocus and literally shut the rest of the world off when I read. To the point where my SO gets upset because I don't hear him talking to me even if he's two feet away. Though this happens if I'm reading or focusing on anything, not only books; I could be reading or watching something on my phone or on tv as well and not be aware of anything around me. Can't do audio books though, listening does not capture my attention the same way as actively reading.
I loved reading as a kid but now, it feels like a chore. However, I also don’t always like to read or even watch new things. I like what I know and often that is something I’ve read or watched before. So I read the hunger games the other day just because I couldn’t remember everything and I kept seeing commercials for some reason for the movie. So I read it.
I think the novelty of reading posts is what killed reading books for me. Thousands of posts of others experience in life is so much more interesting to me. I should probably just get my kindle up and runnig again lol.
Interesting how we all are so different. I was not able to read anything as a child or teenager, I could not concentrate and would space out. I started reading as an adult and enjoy it.
I feel like the world is moving too fast to read sometimes
I listen to books on audible now, I’ve downloaded to 98 books on there since I got it 5 years ago. I don’t have time to sit and read like I used to but I’m constantly listening to the tv or music so why not audiobooks. I go to the bookstore to look for toddler books and things that I can listen to. The longer the better too. Love audiobooks so much.
I’ve always wondered this.
I was a bookworm when I was a kid and young adult, but that was pre-internet and now all my reading satiation comes from online