To think reading is overrated. Persuade me to become a reader pls

[Croissantsfordinner]

Something I would never admit IRL. I just never saw the point of reading if not for a bit of entertainment, which is nice, but why is it so much better than watching a film o listening to an audio story?

Why is it so much better than watching a film or listening to an audio story?

It's not. Only snobs think this. Do whatever makes you happy.

I've got to agree 🤣 although some books really are better than the film version, it's too much effort for me as I don't particularly enjoy it and gives me headaches

@Croissantsfordinner its better because it helps with imagination, teaches you new words how to read and write. Good books makes you think and challenges your perspectives. And whilst I love watching tv it cannot convey in the same way feelings and thoughts.

You can picture the story as you’re reading, put faces to the characters, decide upon the environment they live in.

A film is simply presented to you. Not sure about audio books. I think if I listened to audio books, I’d do the picturing again.

Personally I can't sleep unless I wind down with a book for half an hour first, but if that's not the case for you then I wouldn't worry. A film would be different for me as I try to limit screens close to bedtime.

You think people that like reading are snobs?

Reading stories develops imagination and neural pathways.

It uses more of your brain so helps prevent cognitive decline. As someone who nursed her mum through dementia that’s very important to me.

I'd try some light reading op, like chick lit books

I'm trying to read more but much prefer scrolling on tiktok and watching tv 🙈

I always think reading is like being the director in your own head. The book is the screenplay and you are needed to bring it to life.

Think how scary a horror novel is compared to watching a film. I was so scared reading IT I could only read it in public. No film adaptation has ever come close. Your mind makes it worse! And also better, if you’re interested in feelings and psychology and motivations, you’ll be hard pushed to find a film that will ever go into such depth. You can also fill in the blanks, imagine the characters’
voices, cast your own leading roles.

I like reading books on my phone, though, I will admit. I’ve got hundreds and hundreds of paper books in storage and I’ve found myself increasingly moving over to screens, which has surprised me. I was very sceptical about Kindles when they were released.

I love reading AND audiobooks. For me they're much more engaging and absorbing than films or TV. I find my mind drifting when I'm watching a screen whereas a good book holds my attention to the exclusion of everything else.

If reading gives you a headache then perhaps you need to think about glasses or use a kindle e-reader where you can make the text bigger.

I think some people are snobs about whether audiobooks "count" as reading, and some are snobs about real books v e-books or hardbacks v paperbacks or classics v contemporary. I'm of the view that you should read (or listen to) books that you enjoy, in whatever format you like.

Reading truly enriches my life and I don't know what I'd do without it, but I know that some people feel that way about music and I hardly listen to any at all these days.

Reading isn't better than films and audiobooks but it's different. As others have mentioned a book is an interface between the author and your own imagination. By reading the author's words it creates their world inside your mind but you have created it too by imagining what they are describing. Audiobooks are similar but I find I get distracted much more with audiobooks. With a book you are either reading or you aren't, with an audiobook I'll probably end up doing something at the same time and my thoughts will be less focused. Films take you into a world created for you but are less open to interpretation. I expect they all fire slightly different neurons in your brain.

Reading encourages me to slow down and use a different part of my brain than when watching a film. The experience isn't the same; sometimes the book is better, too. I like audiobooks, but I feel I occasionally miss things with them, because my mind wanders or I focus more on whatever else I'm doing at the same time.

If I didn't enjoy reading for pleasure, I wouldn't force myself to do it, same as I don't force myself to solve algebra problems 'for fun'.

One of my favourite and earliest memories is of laughing because of a sentence I had read. It was a powerful and positive moment when I was about 11.

It's not better, just different. I have no visual imagination but I still enjoy reading. I have ADHD and can get lost in a book in a way that I can't with a films (can't stay focused) or tv series (I'm OK if I can binge watch a series an episode each evening but if there's a week between, I'm screwed). It also forces me to stop and not be doing anything else which is something I need more of!

Are you wanting to dip your toe in the pages @Croissantsfordinner ? I recently got back into reading after a 6 year hiatus and wish I'd done it sooner

I love reading as an adult but I found my love of reading as a child, especially a teenager where I could get lost in a story and escape the real world. Probably why I still love it.

There is nothing better than reading a book that is so good you can't put it down or can't wait to get in to bed to read it.

Reading takes me out of this world for a while in a way no film or audiobook is able to. Nothing else exists whilst I'm in that story world. It's my way of managing life and stress, and nurtures my brain.

I’ve always read a book in bed, since being a child, and my kids do too. I got the habit from my DM. It’s just a relaxing way of winding down to sleep.

Your brain will grow.
Reading on your phone - not so much.

There's plenty of data.
Books aren't expensive - second hand online or in charity shops.

I love reading. I am on my 23rd book this year, but that is because I enjoy it. Different people like different things. I don't like horror or Sci fi so don't read those types of books.

I think it is worth doing if it is something you enjoy. I don't think I'm a snob for enjoying reading. I probably read more than I watch TV. This isn't the better way to be apart from for me as its what I like.

Film/TV presents the whole story fully formed - you just passively absorb it without using any of your own cognition.

Audio books give some of that, but you use more imagination as no pictures.

With books you use your whole imagination to fully flesh out the world, and because you can absorb it in your own time, rather than watching or listening at the speed it's presented to you, it's massively more likely to promote your own independent thinking about the story and about any issues that it may raise, or just to let your mind branch out into considering different scenarios or motivations or deeper characterisations etc.

And I don't think it's dependent on whether you can form actual mental pictures. I can't, I'm virtually aphantasic, but books give me far more colour and richness to a story than films ever can.

Only snobs read lol 😂😂😂😂

I am not a snob for preferring a book to a film.

Only a knob would think so.

I love audiobooks and reading but I tend to find I don’t concentrate as well when listening as always combining it with a chore like ironing etc. but dd listens to books in bed and does listen exclusively.

I don’t get lost/immersed/escape into tv like i do in books, but people should do what makes them happiest.

why is it so much better than watching a film o listening to an audio story?

It's not different from listening to an audiobook, apart from the format. It is different from watching a film. What does 'better' mean? More enjoyable? Depends on what you enjoy. Intellectually superior? Nope. I love reading. I've been a big reader all my life. For some reason I only like audiobooks for non-fiction and for books in foreign languages (I'm a language teacher). For fiction in English I prefer to read. I love films too.