I have lost the ability to sit and read....

[whaaaatishappening]

I was/am an avid reader. Love nothing more than getting anew book and settling down for a few hours to read.

Last year has been hectic, marriage break up, setting up new business so i have not had the mind space or time to really get involved with a book.

Treated my self to trilogy - massive book and I've found the moment i start reading I want to fall asleep. I am not even managing a page, just cant get in to it. Its not the book as normally would really enjoy this kind of book and style its written in.

Has this happened to any one else. Ive lost my reading skills!

@LadyCampanulaTottington

I firmly believe that social media/apps/the internet have killed my attention span. I’m constantly distracted.

Me too. Working from home means that on slow days I can check my phone every 10 minutes without anyone noticing. And guess what the 2 h saved daily from not having to commute are being spent on...

It's destroyed my attention span, my discipline and worsened my eyesight, yet I can't put the damn phone down.

If anyone knows any tricks to handle this... =(

The bath is the only place I properly get stuck into a book these days. Always used to read in bed (since being an insomniac kid) but then I got an iPad that lives in the bedroom,

I have experienced the same OP. Happened after a bereavement. I don't think social.media and internet cause the inability to concentrate. I think it's like alcohol or drugs, they numb you when your brain is in overdrive.

I try to be conscious about the habit and what's behind it - I know I am numbing just now.

And I try to tell myself that even one page of reading a book is worthwhile. And so there's no pressure to "perform".

I have managed to read a whole book for first time in years just by reading one page at a time (or sometimes more).

I can't read anything, put it down to age & adhd. As menopause is not good for adhd, makes it worse.

me too. I think the pandemic did it for me. I've started reading (and banning myself from phone/laptop) in bed and that's working. I don't pick up a book any other time though unless I'm travelling somewhere.

I've also started actually going in to a bookshop and choosing a book - that way I'm more likely to find one I really want to read.

If you’ve become accustomed to exclusively scrolling then a printed book will seem effortful to your brain!

Can you download a kindle sample of your new book to your phone? That way it’ll seem more natural, and once you’ve got into it you can go back to paper.

On the other hand it may just be that your mind is too busy at the moment.

I’m the same since having DC which coincided with smartphone use.
No brain space and no holiday abroad in the sun for the past two years.

As DC are now pre teens I do love reading their books though and have re read a few old childhood favourites but I can’t manage a proper novel now.

I’m glad I read a lot when younger, including most of the ‘classics’ which I would struggle to get through now.

One of the booktubers I watch does what she calls a Cosy Reading Night from time to time, running in an evening for around 3 hours. I thought I'dgive that a go, and settled down with cosy blankets, snacks, drinks etc and loved it. I try and treat myself regularly with a block of 2-3 hours reading, without social media distraction (which can be hard at first, but gets easier).

At other times, it's a snatched 10-15 mins over a cup of tea.

I do this periodically, it’s odd. I’m on an ‘off’ period at the moment, but I’m usually an avid reader ☹️ Hoping to be back ‘on’ soon…

I’ve managed to get it back!

Like anything you have to start small. Set yourself one page per day for a week, then build up?

And keep your phone in another room.

Me too, especially since DD was born (2014). When I was pregnant with her I read loads of books, and then just... stopped. Exhaustion and phone addiction I imagine. Then I had DS in 2018, so was more tired and even more addicted to my phone! Another problem is having limited time to myself (basically just evenings), and I can only choose one or two activities. I know I'm too shattered to read so that never gets picked, except for maybe 10mins before sleep.

I bought myself a Kindle this summer to try and read a bit more, and it's sort of worked. I read a load of easy reads and a couple of more complicated stories, but seem to have slowed down a bit. Sometimes seeing how long I've got left in a book is overwhelming, but the percentage read at the bottom of the screen isn't so bad.

Me too. I’d race through 13 books on holiday and panic if I ran short.

It was a mixture of children and scrolling the internet on my phone destroying my attention span. I had three terrible sleepers, so I was too tired to read more than a page or two in bed each night. I never got through books, lost the thread and they couldn’t grab my (limited) attention. Always being interrupted by cries “Muuuuuummmmmmeeeee!” too.

Plus, there’s definitely some good old fashioned mother’s guilt that put me off - sitting down all by myself and doing something as selfish, absorbing and time consuming as reading a novel felt hopelessly indulgent when I worked full time and the kids wanted me.

I can read non-fiction because I am still curious to learn and you don’t need to pay attention to characters, story arcs or clues like in a novel.

I'm so glad it's not just me. I'm just managing to get back into it. I agree re short stories, I started off with one or two per night. And then I read all of the Adrian mole books again. Like an old friend.

Now I'm back into it, I'm starting to enjoy it again. I got Billy Connollys autobiography for xmas and finished it last night

Yes, me too, I used to read a book a week but like most others the internet killed my ability to concentrate. I started last year by with easy reads, James Herriot in particular as those were the books that gave me my love of reading as a teenager. I have progressed over the last year and now sometimes even go to bed early as I want to read.

@LadyCampanulaTottington

I firmly believe that social media/apps/the internet have killed my attention span. I’m constantly distracted.

Absolutely. Same here. I have the attention span of a goldfish.

I'm the same. I did switch from my kindle back to paperbacks and that helped for awhile.

I’ve been re reading old favourite books of mine which helps.

Me too- a combo of stress and my phone killing my attention span. One of my resolutions for next year is to read 50 books and avoid SM.

Yup, I'm another one. Used to love reading in bed, now I just Google shite. It's on my new year resolutions list for 2022.

I think if you're stressed out it affects your attention span too. I used to read one book a week or so, did a lot of reading on the train commute and also before bed. I was looking forward to having more reading time in the first lockdown. But since March 2020 I've probably read a grand total of three books. I just can't get into it anymore. I've experienced job stress, housing stress, bereavements, family fall outs.. my brain feels fried. Tried to do a reading challenge (set a goal of 25 books for the year) but it made something I used to enjoy feel like a chore.

Choose something easy to start with, a book you know and that gives comfort. When I’m struggling with reading I go back to childhood books.

You can get it back but you need to be set up for no distractions. Phone on silent in another room completely.

I read in the bath and bed every night and sometimes at other points when there's no distractions. I actually use reading now to calm myself. I find scrolling on social media makes me feel low key frenzied and stressed and I will go and put my phone away and decide to read for half hour/hour and I really calm down. To me it's my therapy!

Same. I have implemented a system now when I read a book i put my phone in another room and set a timer for 25 min. This is the only way i can get into a book now. Otherwise immediately distracted by phone.

Yes, I am a big reader and found this happened to me twice in the pandemic. I eased myself back in by reading very easy stuff: Wodehouse, Christie, terrible psychological thrillers. I also go to coffee shops. I can read better away from home.

Same thing happened to me this time last year and here are the changes I made for 2021:

• Set myself a reading challenge goal on Goodreads. You can set a number of books.

• Got right into audiobooks. This is now my main way of accessing novels. I use the free library app Borrowbox and Libby and also treated myself to Scribd.

*Schedule a time each day which is solely for reading pages. Ensure you haven't been on screens for an hour beforehand. I started with half an hour. After the first few minutes, I found i was becoming less distracted and could focus more on the words.

*Permit yourself to give up on books that are just not working for you. I give every book now three chapters. If I'm not hooked by then, i ditch it. Life is too short to persevere with books you don't like. I have over 1000 books on my reading wishlist on Goodreads. If i stick with books I don't like, i'll never get chance to try all the ones I want to.