To think being a reader doesn't make you better or smarter?

[OnceaReaderNeveraReader]

Never been a reader. I have tried many times in my life and have enjoyed the odd book here and there but have never managed to actually become a regular reader and don't miss books ever. I was talking about this with some colleagues the other day and one of them made me feel a bit bad about this as if reading is a sign of better intellectual ability and superiority.
I am uni educated and enjoy a variety of other cultural hobbies such as art, theatre and dance but I just cannot understand what is so special about books!
How does one become a reader later in life and is it really that bad if I don't enjoy it?

I assume you mean novels.
Yes some people just don't enjoy them ands there's nothing wrong with that.
Do you like TV/films?

How did you get through uni without reading books?

I assumed she meant novels. Unless she was studying English Literature would she have needed to read novels at university?

It's obvious that op means reading for pleasure.

No, being a reader just makes you a reader.

🤷‍♀️🙄

I think it’s a part of making you smarter. As are the things that you enjoy. They are stimulating and they can broaden your view of the world. I don’t listen to any music at all. When I tell people that I get a similar reaction to the one you get!

I think being a reader has the potential to make you (one) better and smarter, but it's not the only thing that does.

I think it probably makes you better at spelling and perhaps I occasionally you absorb general knowledge little things that come out of nowhere in za pub quiz otherwise be happy not reading it shouldn't matter to anyone else

I'm an obsessive reader and I just regard it as one of my quirks, it doesn't make me superior. Like @Tulcan I don't listen to music - I prefer silence (so I can read) or talk. I like music well enough but just don't go to it myself.

Apparently being a reader means you could be a writer.

It depends on how you learn. I learn to spell by physically writing a word. So when I had to report write, my spelling improved. The quality of what you are reading would make a difference. That also applies to what you watch and if you are curious enough to then want to expand your knowledge.

I don't read books much any more but I do think that my spelling and grammar and punctuation is better than it would have been for having done so when I was younger.
Doesn't make me any better than anyone else though.
Those who read the classics or Shakespeare I think tend to have a sense of superiority but although I tried, I couldn't get past trying to analyse every line.
I want to know what they are meaning without having to think about it.
I don't get interpretive art either.
Neither do I think too deeply about stuff. I find this life is far simpler if you are pretty shallow 😉

I've always been a big reader, but not literature. I love books about things, like science.

I think reading does make you smarter. Just like participating in quizzes, learning a language, or watching documentaries.
Not taking part in regular reading, however, does not make you not clever!!
I don't enjoy films. Same reaction.

I think, especially today, non-readers tend to ignore books in favour of tv and phones. SOME non-readers, obviously.

So in that context, they obviously have less interests in life and general knowledge.

I am uni educated and enjoy a variety of other cultural hobbies such as art, theatre and dance
It's far from being the case for all non-readers, and genuine question, if not in books, where would you learn about the context, political, historical..and about artist biography etc? I am not being goady, where else than books.

I know about google and internet etc, 😂, but the best source of information is still books.

Yes of course! I did read text books at uni but I was referring to novels or generally reading books for pleasure

The whole of education is predicated on reading ergo it makes you smarter.

I think to a certain extent, reading does make you smarter. Or at least, it makes you more literate. Obviously it helps develop your reading but it also enhances all of your writing abilities, your ability to punctuate, to create well constructed sentences, to paragraph, widens your vocabulary.

It absolutely doesn't have to be literature though. Reading anything does that, other than stuff at the level of tabloids, which have an exceptionally low reading age (around the age of 8 or 9).

I know about google and internet etc, 😂, but the best source of information is still books.

Depends on what your interests are, and books can get out of date very quickly.

@OnceaReaderNeveraReader some novels I just really can't read. I struggle with fantasy or sci-fi because I can't visualise the scenes very well. I need real world settings.
I quite like historical stories but nothing really set before the Victorian era. I sometimes think that because I can "picture" the scenes in my head because we still have a lot of Victorian buildings/parks etc in existence so I can use places I have seen and know as my visual guide.
Apparently that's kind of a "thing" - being able to read the words but not picture the scenes in your head which makes it hard to follow the story.
Do you experience that?
There's some books I could only read after having watched a TV or film adaptation because I need the visual prompts.

I think it increases awareness. Novels or text books increase knowledge of facts, histories and contexts. You just picking up as you go. So it broadens you.

I wouldn’t be with someone who didn’t read.

My dc are both readers, as am I. I definitely think it helps improve spelling, grammar amd vocabulary, as well as general knowledge. It doesn't make anyone better than anyone else but it potentially can make someone smarter.

I've always read, my sister rarely reads - I am smarter than her but who knows if that's down to reading🤷🏻‍♀️

I've never been a fan of crosswords. Other puzzles yes, just not those, and one day we were discussing them at work and I said I couldn't get anywhere with crosswords and had never liked them - particularly not the cryptic sort.

My colleague said "Ooh, I'd think there was something seriously wrong with me if I wasn't able to do the crossword every day!".

I know that being a reader gives ME some smarts that I wouldn’t otherwise have. I can’t help noticing that in certain areas of knowledge I just do know a lot more than other people, and that is purely through reading - fiction and nonfiction. I also have the joy of really enjoying it. There’s nothing like being transported instantly and completely into another life or another mind. Only reading can do that for me.

The fact is though that it’s lucky I can learn via reading, because I struggle to learn any other way. My understanding of anything three dimensional or numerical is incredibly poor. My visual observation is average at best, my memory is awful, I have a terrible recall of faces, my muscle memory is just as bad. Listening I can in theory learn but in practice I tend to switch off/fall asleep very quickly and it can take weeks to get through a serious radio programme.

Reading can do so much - but only so much. I agree with you that just because someone doesn’t read for pleasure, it doesn’t mean they aren’t intelligent, capable and knowledgeable.

What I am interested in (genuine question) is, how is that different from things like movies, tv series or a theatre show though? Why is that supposed to do it better than all these other things?