Problem when Reading

Submitted by beBenggu t3_10gtbha in books

I've noticed not too recently that, when reading, I tend to skim over paragraphs naturally, only reading near the top and bottom lines if they're too long. I'm trying to correct this habit but I keep slipping back to it when I get invested in the book, probably because I want to get the story moving along quicker, and I find myself missing important points in the text, like character introductions or changes in location. It's fine if I miss something like those, though, because I can tell something's off and go back to check. I'm worried I'm missing some of the more subtle points in the stories and I feel like constantly having to go back and forth while reading takes too long while also ruining the experience.

I know theres no quick fix for this, but just focusing on not doing it isn't working either. Do you have any tips?

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polyphobicDE t1_j54kihl wrote

Reduce your Social Media time. Especially Reddit.

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beBenggu OP t1_j54lvdz wrote

Oh, interesting! What about Reddit makes you think its making this habit worse? Or can you just tell I spend a lot of time here haha?

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polyphobicDE t1_j54wwhf wrote

I think the general scrolling behavior and looking for something that entertains us makes us tend to jump towards the end of paragraphs quicker. And that behavior extends to the offline-world. How often do you read just the first sentences and then jump to the end, just to see if it's worth reading the whole thing, when you find a veeeery long Reddit post? Social Media does something with our attention span, definitely. Just google it, there are loads of scientific papers on this.

https://scholar.google.de/scholar?hl=de&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=social+media+attention+span&btnG=

I think Reddit is even worse because it has the highest text share, at least in some subs.

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boxer_dogs_dance t1_j550is9 wrote

The book Stolen Focus by Johan Hari was accessible on this topic.

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DownrightAlpaca t1_j588jdt wrote

Does this book acknowledge people with Adhd may struggle more, does it not comment on adhd, or does it try to claim you can fix adhd with "this one trick"? I'm interested but tired of reading books that claim I can fix my executive functioning deficit if I try hard enough.

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boxer_dogs_dance t1_j58ajlb wrote

It is silent regarding ADHD and executive functioning. It talks about effects of social media on attention and focus in neurotypical people.

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lydiardbell t1_j558f7x wrote

I actually read about a study on reading where eye-tracking technology showed that people reading news and social media online tended to read the first sentence of a paragraph and then skip to the last one, while readers of print books and print newspapers did that significantly less often. Correlation != causation, but it's interesting.

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IamEclipse t1_j54male wrote

I sometimes do this too, especially when I get into good reading flow. My mind runs away with the text.

I've found that manually stopping, and starting the page again helps reset my flow, but it is something you have to do manually.

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HoneyBadgerWhoCared t1_j58weir wrote

I did something similar. Used to read a lot when I was young. Then I went to university and studied a lot. After that I had issues reading any books that weren’t specialised in my field or something else I felt was useful. Fantasy and other books I couldn’t help skipping parts or at least rushing to the end. To be able to enjoy it again I removed the information (I use a kindle) as time left or page-numbers. I also forced my self to read every sentence very thoroughly to try to again get immersed in the story, instead of just rushing though it to get to the end of the chapter/book. I read what the floor looks like, colour of clothes, expressions. All to get back to what I used to feel when I started reading. And now I can immerse myself fully again I don’t skip parts and I no longer read to get to the next part.

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Thalattos t1_j54ugat wrote

Like any unwanted habit, all you really can do is to re-train yourself. Read slow on purpose, if you catch yourself skimming, start over. Maybe it's possible to condition yourself (rewards for not skimming etc.), but I don't know.

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I start to do it, when I'm either bored or the exact opposite, hyped for what's coming. I don't mind the bored skimming. Because of the other case I really started to like audiobooks, they force me to a certain tempo that's far slower than my normal reading speed and it's impossible to skim ahead.

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Zanish t1_j55t18g wrote

Use a page marker, I use my bookmark at times where I'm struggling to focus.

Set the bookmark sideways to show only the first line and move it down 1 line after you finish it. Rinse and repeat. This way you can't jump to the end.

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speedofplight t1_j54nu70 wrote

I have the same problem. What I found worked for me was to read the different parts out loud. I do realise that this only works at home.

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Paulrofnz t1_j54zssi wrote

I try to train myself to not skim read.

Every few pages, I might take a little break, close my eyes and recall what has happened in the last few pages, who the new characters were, what did whoever do etc. My punishment for failing to remember is to go back and re-read.

If, I am skimming a lot and can't stop, I figure its probably a book not worth my time as its not capturing my interest.

Also, for me at least, if I want to concentrate on anything, whether its a book, a videogame, TV, sports game or movie, the phone has to be in anther room, its far too distracting. With reading I may see a word or phrase that I want to look up on google and do so, then spend next ten minutes clicking on more and more stuff.

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ImRuKus t1_j5575y4 wrote

Read the book out loud and don't rush, read at the books pace. It's the same advice I give to students with this habit.

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mariacatalyn t1_j571stt wrote

use a ruler or paper and block out the next few lines. then just move down the ruler as you go so you focus on one line at a time. this is what I do when I'm distracted and trying to read.

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7mariam t1_j5996ha wrote

Actually I think that's what fast readers do. They don't read every single sentence. And as someone said in the comments you can use a bookmark. It works for me :D

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