I love going to the library and bookstores and browsing through whatever interests me. I'll begin to read a couple of pages and then all of a sudden, I get distracted and either quit reading the books I've borrowed/bought or I'll finish them months or even years afterwards.
Also, although I'm able to read textbooks for school, I have incredible difficulty sometimes. I find myself reading the same sentence or paragraph over and over and over. My mind drifts and I have trouble focusing. I don't have ADD (I was concerned that I might, but no).
Name:
Anonymous2009-06-10 7:54
Let's ride bikes
Name:
Anonymous2009-06-11 4:26
You have ADD.
Read up on it. You have time.
Name:
Anonymous2009-06-11 4:48
It may be your surroundings. I think silence or perhaps some ambient music might help you out.
Name:
Anonymous2009-06-11 12:26
>>1
It is hard for me myself to read without music. I can do it but then someone will have the tv on or is talking and it distracts me. The only time I can really read is when im listening to my music which is usually rock alt and stuff like that.
Name:
Anonymous2009-06-11 15:01
>>5
At first I was like, “How come the music doesn't demand your attention and stop you from reading?” rock alt and stuff like that
But then I figured it out.
Name:
Anonymous2009-06-11 16:49
I have been the same way for a while. Recently though I'm just starting to come out of it. What happened to me was that I had read a lot, like breathing, every day, and had a very active imagination that was stimulated by reading. Then I had a period of depression that made me distanced from myself and the things I'd once enjoyed (like the Prozac commercial). I can't describe how painful it was to not be able to read or even feel a connection to ideas anymore like how I'd once felt, it seriously felt like a very beautiful part of me had been killed.
anyway, I was also trying to read things I wasn't actually interested in but thought I should be. I'm rebuilding my reading ability by only reading for fun, now, with strong characters who are intelligent - slowly I'm building back up to the reading level I was once at. For me, reading is incredibly mental, and even the way i feel about what I'm reading and what it means that I'm reading can influence my ability to read. it's allllllll mental.
Name:
Anonymous2009-06-11 17:36
>>6
Its weird I hear the music yet it doesn't effect my reading. All it really does is shut off my brain from hearing random noises and focuses me on the book. But this only works with headphones. If I try without headphones it doesn't work right.
You already have an impetus to look for books that interest you, so you're already doing what you can. Just keep searching, and prune books that do not keep your attention.
If you haven't already, look for fiction books that might keep your attention. Fiction tends to hold my attention longer than non-fiction, maybe it will be the same for you.
Or you can try seeing a psychiatrist? They'll probably give you a fun stimulant to take.
Name:
Anonymous2009-06-17 9:53
It's not a problem as such, but does anyone else get the effect when your mind wanders while you're reading, then after about thirty seconds you realise you've just read through the entire paragraph without taking any of it in.