I wanna read but everything else is so much more interesting to me so I don't do it and it takes ages too. I read about a page a minute but it feels like aaaaaaaaaaaaaages longer usually.
How do I improve my attention span and stop being enslaved by random internet browsing, YouTube, vidya etc
Start with short stories and magazine articles. When you know there is only a page or two to go, you can keep going
I have the same problem. When I try to read books I constantly reread sentences, so I feel like I'm not reading fast enough, so then my thoughts start to dwell on how much I suck at reading and obsessing over the page number until I I feel like shit and have to put the book down. I've done that with book after book for years. I've finished a few, to be fair. It's very frustrating since I used to be so easily absorbed with reading.
My advice is to just keep trying no matter what. Practice makes perfect, I hope.
Reading shouldn't feel like a chore so pick a book you enjoy and don't mind spending aaaaaaages on.
Otherwise, just allocate a time to read (before bed after all your distractions are minimal, and silence your phone and put it somewhere far away) and commit to reading an allotted number of pages. Don't focus on time but just the number of pages you need to finish.
I find engagement greater when reading chunks of the story instead of single pages. More events or points are made the more pages you read in one sitting, making it more fulfilling.
Why do you want to read? Just reading because "it's better than the internet" is dumb. You won't motivate yourself like that.
Do you spend hours reading, on the computer, about some crap you actually like? Then reading is not the problem, the books you pick are.
This shouldn‘t be the case unless you have to read the book for study/work or whatever. If you do it as a hobby, you simply need to find a book that‘s more interesting to you.
I‘ve been an avid reader all my life but since about 10 years i can‘t get into fiction anymore. It just seems like a waste of energy and time. So now i only read non-fiction about whatever topic has caught my attention at the moment. I usually finish a book in 3 - 5 days. I always read on my kindle app on my phone. This way it‘s with me wherever i go and when i have a few minutes to kill (like waiting in line or so), i fill that time with reading.
It becomes just another thing to habitually do on your phone, which i think is a good thing.
I never force myself to read in the books. If i feel more like watching some yt, browing Jow Forums, checking my emails, i do that instead. I guess as soon as you want to force yourself, it becomes a chore and you won‘t be able to enjoy it anymore.
That's funny OP, I had the same problem for years. I thought I was cursed for life with a brainlet attention span but one day I just started reading novels again.
I can't pinpoint how I fixed it but at the time I was trying to improve my health. I slept better, exercised every day, got sunlight, tried avoiding Jow Forums and vidya. After doing all this I found my attention span coming back to me.
I guess that's basically why I want to read books. Switching between Jow Forums, Reddit, Youtube, anime, short online essays etc. for hours is much less fulfilling than reading hundreds of sustained pages on a certain topic or story. I miss how much I enjoyed getting lost in a book as a kid and want that again. Anyway, sometimes I even struggle and feel slow reading fucking Jow Forums posts, for example, even if I spend hours doing it.
People spend all day looking for information online not because it's good quality or worthwhile but because there are little infrequent moments when you do actually find something good. It's like playing a slot machine.
You are chasing a feeling, man. You are not a kid anymore, you can't go back.
But weren't what made it so easy to get lost, it was whatever caught your eye about them. Spending hours watching nature documentaries isn't' any less worthwhile than reading about the same animals. Don't force yourself to read, it won't work.
Get some better hobbies, though, something that is actually fulfilling for you.
Nothing is fulfilling to me. At least reading used to be. I don't have anything else to go on.
How are books different?
Your issues are deeper than books, mate. Try therapy. Try new things. Don't spend so much time alone.
>therapy
Unfortunately, I got absolutely nothing out of that. I just argued with the guy that I was absolutely fine and I just needed to stop being a bitch until he sort of agreed and then quit. I was forced to go there in the first place anyway.
>new things
I agree. My problem is that I get frustrated and give up on every new thing I try, so I've learned to never try. That pretty much happened with reading too, btw.
>Don't spend so much time alone.
Ha, how did you know?
>Ha, how did you know?
This is not my first time on Jow Forums.
>I was forced to go there in the first place anyway.
>My problem is that I get frustrated and give up on every new thing I try, so I've learned to never try.
You should try this new thing, actually caring about therapy, actually trying to change. I don't know why you were forced to go, but you are a big boy now. You can choose change. You can give something a second chance.
Think of it as your first step towards not giving up so easily. Quitting after one bad experience is quitting. Show yourself you can try again.
Your shitty attention span probably stems from your shitty health. Work on that and you might be able to read again. If that fails, at least you'll have developed some good habits.
Actually I saw two different therapists when I was 19 (last year), and I was only forced the second time. The first time was equally useless. Anyway, I don't see therapy in my future. You don't need it to improve your life. I can do other things. Thank you for replying to my posts, (You)s make me feel less lonely on my days off.
I have a balanced diet, a healthy weight and a physically demanding job. My skin rarely sees the sunlight since I work nights, so maybe I could do something about that.
>You don't need it to improve your life. I can do other things.
The good thing about therapy is the routine, is having some time to work on yourself with another person instead of getting lost inside your own head.
The more I read your comments, the more I think it would help you, a lot. It's not about how smart or knowledgeable they are, it's about not being stuck in your home, it's about getting a second perspective on yourself (you don't have to agree with it, but it's useful to see yourself through another pair of eyes.)
Delete social media and other forms of attention spand reducers. Stop watching youtube.
I agree that therapy could theoretically help me a lot, but it won't, not unless my way of thinking drastically changes before I even begin therapy. And how do I make that change? I think that's a choice I have to make when I feel like I have no other option. So I'm waiting for some sort of crisis to sort me out. My current bet is that that will be my dad telling me to move out because I'm a goddam adult. Living in my childhood bedroom feels like a mental trap, even if it's truly a privilege. This crap probably deserved its own OP.
>So I'm waiting for some sort of crisis to sort me out.
And that's why therapy doesn't work for you. Therapy is active. You said "I can do other things", but really, you are not doing anything. You are waiting.
But you are right about something. It won't work until you are ready to DO it. Good luck man. It gets better.
All I can say is that you're right. Thanks.
I was in your shoes and it took me a few mental breakdowns to start reading on a daily basis.
I realized I need the knowledge I gain from these books and that everything else is complete waste of time.
I've been reading a lot more in the last year and a half and your reading speeds up the more you do it. If you're worried people will text you while you're trying to concentrate just text back that you're reading and you'll text back when you're done. Or look at who sent the text and just don't answer unless you know it's important. Working on your attention span takes time and practice and is pretty rewarding when you get better at it
Just silence your phone. You don't need to justify that to anyone IMO.