Sounds like me when I don't take my ADHD meds, you might consider speaking to a healthcare professional if it's affecting your life to this degree.

Sounds like there might be some anxiety issues there…hatred is a pretty strong word for being unable to focus on reading.

Suggesting a psychologist might be useful to help provide you with some tools so you can practice focus and get to the root cause as to why you’re experiencing a deterioration in skill and frustration with a number of different activities.

This sounds like something reddit isn't going to be able to help you with. Sounds like ADHD or Anxiety. Try talking to a medical professional if possible.

Suffer the same problem with reading. Best advice is to just keep going even if you feel like you aren’t retaining. It is okay to read it slower or even aloud until you feel comfortable stopping. Because you are retaining more than you think you are. It is not every excruciating detail, but it is enough for the story. You’re not reading to recite the whole thing back to someone, you’re reading for a story/plot/main idea. Also, if there is something you really like in a certain chapter, you could notate it in one form or another. Doesn’t have to be all the time, and it could be just that once to help you jog your memory for it. Very possible that ADHD is something you are dealing with like others have commented.

It sounds like you are struggling with a mental health issue, perhaps OCD or anxiety or perfectionism.

I think that a therapist would be able to help you to begin to make forward motion again in your life and get a grasp on what's going on and be able to cope better. Maybe you can get through without any medication but meds can be an absolute game changer for some people.

For right now, let the books go since you aren't enjoying them.

Try short stories, poetry, or even better yet haiku. Good luck.

I feel like my capacity to focus has absolutely been decimated by social media. The short form content has killed my attention span. I actually haven't read much at all over the past five years, whereas I used to love reading. I'm only just now getting back into it. Maybe you just need to give yourself permission to have a break, knowing that it might take a few years to come back to it. Give yourself time. Books will always be there.

I read like crazy as a kid, slowed down in high school and all together stopped in college. I just couldn’t focus, and I REALLY tried, I’d be crying from the frustration. I was diagnosed with ADHD last year and I’ve been medicated for about 8 months. I’ve read 8 books so far this year, the diagnosis really changed my life.

You really should speak to a medical professional. There are a myriad of reasons you could be having issues focusing, but anything effecting you to this degree needs to be looked at.

Do you have long covid? Maybe get a check up. It sounds very frusterating. Maybe you can find another hobby for now that is more physically engaging like coloring or drawing. If you still want to enjoy words, Maybe you could download duolingo and learn another language (they are like 2 minute lessons) or maybe you could get into poetry (buy a book of collected poems and just read 1 per day). Hope you feel better.

Hi there. This subject has been very popular in the past. Please use reddit search and/or check the /r/books/wiki/faq.