Talks about otome games, drama cds, and occasionally provides advice? Running away endlessly from my backlog of hobbies.

Ilinox

Good news, you aren't alone (so don't feel embarrassed). Bad news, it really do be these damn phones and this age of information being blasted towards us at the speed of a bajillion soundbites per second. I've spoken with several friends who are avid readers like me and we've all noticed this "deterioration" of our reading.

One (positive) view is that, unlike when we were sponges as children, we have much more stuff in our minds as adults and so it takes longer to process things and we're unconsciously spending energy making connections, recognizing patterns, or analyzing themes and messages. So, don't be too harsh on yourself! It's a good thing you're not just "unquestioningly" absorbing things like when you were younger.

The other (negative) view is that we're all being affected by our phones and the distracting and easy access to the instant dopamine that comes from scrolling through endless "content" on our feeds. It takes active effort to resist doing this and, like you said, we have to practice reading daily and exercise this muscle and our concentration.

Personally, I've had to examine myself closely many times. Am I struggling to read because I'm tired? In which case, I should take a break and try again later. Or am I struggling because my brain wants to zone out and mindlessly scroll? In which case, I need to reel my brain back in and push myself to read.

I advocate a lot for people to treat themselves nicer because I do think people can be unjustifiably critical of themselves but, at the same time, I also believe it's just as important to know when you need to be diligent and push yourself out of your comfort zone or "exert" yourself to do something you know is for your own good. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution for this "deterioration" in reading. What works for me is that I actually physically remove myself from distractions (like my computer) and if I'm reading something on my phone then I turn on Do Not Disturb because I know my attention will be shot if I see a notification from someone.

Aw, thank you for the kind words! I love telling this story but the reason I started doing this type of dissection style of tweeting and talking about my interests in a way that I hope is educational or interesting in a domain I have knowledge about is because I used to know someone who did that for the anime they watched, and so it was like getting a lesson from them every time they talked about what they were watching and I was so captivated. Sometimes I had no interest at all in the anime they were watching but I was completely interested in how they looked at the anime and what they saw in the anime. So, carrying on in that spirit, that's honestly the feeling I hope people get from seeing my tweets about otome-oriented media.

Good news, you aren't alone (so don't feel embarrassed). Bad news, it really do be these damn phones and this age of information being blasted towards us at the speed of a bajillion soundbites per second. I've spoken with several friends who are avid readers like me and we've all noticed this "deterioration" of our reading.

One (positive) view is that, unlike when we were sponges as children, we have much more stuff in our minds as adults and so it takes longer to process things and we're unconsciously spending energy making connections, recognizing patterns, or analyzing themes and messages. So, don't be too harsh on yourself! It's a good thing you're not just "unquestioningly" absorbing things like when you were younger.

The other (negative) view is that we're all being affected by our phones and the distracting and easy access to the instant dopamine that comes from scrolling through endless "content" on our feeds. It takes 

 effort to resist doing this and, like you said, we have to practice reading daily and exercise this muscle and our concentration.

Personally, I've had to examine myself closely many times. Am I struggling to read because I'm tired? In which case, I should take a break and try again later. Or am I struggling because my brain wants to zone out and mindlessly scroll? In which case, I need to reel my brain back in and push myself to read.

I advocate a lot for people to treat themselves nicer because I do think people can be unjustifiably critical of themselves but, at the same time, I also believe it's just as important to know when you need to be diligent and push yourself out of your comfort zone or "exert" yourself to do something you know is for your own good. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution for this "deterioration" in reading. What works for me is that I actually physically remove myself from distractions (like my computer) and if I'm reading something on my phone then I turn on Do Not Disturb because I know my attention will be shot if I see a notification from someone.

Aw, thank you for the kind words! I love telling this story but the reason I started doing this type of dissection style of tweeting and talking about my interests in a way that I hope is educational or interesting in a domain I have knowledge about is because I used to know someone who did that for the anime they watched, and so it was like getting a lesson from them every time they talked about what they were watching and I was so captivated. Sometimes I had no interest at all in the anime they were watching but I was completely interested in how they looked at the anime and what they saw in the anime. So, carrying on in that spirit, that's honestly the feeling I hope people get from seeing my tweets about otome-oriented media.

I feel my reading capabilities actively deteriorating in the sense that I have to reread lines frequently, sometimes my brain goes elsewhere while reading (lack of focus even though I enjoy the work), 'speed'reading or struggling to imagine scenes sometimes even though I had zero problems like this when I was younger. I know the solution to this is to keep reading daily and practice, but its just embarrassing realizing this lol. I was always bad at speaking but reading was one of my prides and now even that has crumbled.

Also I want to say that your encouragement (not towards anyone specifically, but generally) of being a mindful reader/consumer motivates me a lot. Seeing you dissect stuff, even when I have no interest in it, is cool. All my life I've liked seeing people passionate about their hobbies even when I know nothing about it haha.

Ilinox

I'm gonna sound dumb but