I'd do this, but even when I understand English fairly well, it is not my native language, and I have found many books not being available in Spanish (Latin Spanish preferred)... Also I think my brain can't really multitask... I often struggle to understand podcasts (mostly in English, but sometimes Spanish too) while driving 🤣

I can't allow myself to disassociate with audiobooks.
- I have trouble with multitasking too, if I am doing anything else, I can't pay attention to what I am listening, and if I am paying attention to what I am listening, I can't pay attention to what I am doing.
- Start with something light. Listen to fiction or comedy rather than heavy academic material.
  
  S-town is a great fiction story mini-series.
  
  Evil Genius with Russell Kane is a good comedy show. Wheel of Misfortune is also good and even more lighthearted.
If the library doesn't have it try audiobook bay, but try to use the library if you can to support both the library and the author.
- Is that a website?

Doomscrolling comment threads on your phone... that's a readin'.
Doomscrolling comment threads on your laptop... that's a readin'.
Doomscrolling email threads on your work desktop... that's a readin'.
Readin' the unskippable dialog in a game with no voice actors... oh, you better believe that's a readin'.

To add to this list, watching media (especially anime) subbed, all I do is read!
Man, playing some older RPGs again recently I realized that my imagination works way better when I'm reading stuff than when I am listening to someone speak. Makes me wanna disable the voice volume and just have subtitles in new games to see if that helps get into them better.

I actually do a fuck-ton of reading on my computers and phone. ^Lemmy ^comments ^count, ^right?

Relatable.

I only read a book for the first time in my life approximately 2 months ago.
I wasn't required to do that at school, well, I think maybe a few times, but I went with an F each time.

I wanted to understand the "Literally 1984" meme. Hey, that means memes were more successful than school.

Edit:

Hmm, I can escape the comment with a numbered list.

Upvote for breaking Lemmy markup.
Under the spreading chestnut tree...

Fun fact, one of my undergrad final projects was a 16mm film based on an essay I wrote about a nightmare I had the evening I finished that book. Is that a fun fact? Maybe just for me.
- This feels like one of those Super Mario speedrun hacks where he can go through the rocks.

Why does nobody count heavily article and conversation based reading media as reading?

All 4 of these things she's doing could have heavy amounts of reading.

Also, if reading was all it was cracked up to be, we wouldn't be spending nearly a trillion dollars between video media and gaming media.

Articles and comment sections don't give enough depth to truly understand a topic (especially when many don't even do that and just read the headlines). It's better than nothing, however.

I actually don't think reading for the sake of reading is all that important, especially if it is not something one naturally enjoys. A good movie, a quality TV show, a well written song or even interestingly captured photograph can be more stimulating than a random mediocre book. Do read if you like - a good book can be mind blowing; but more importanly try to find quality in all media you consume, take your time to think about what you consumed and open your senses to the world around you.

Reading isn't just about being stimulated or having fun. It's a skill and if people don't practice that skill then it atrophies (or it never develops fully in the first place as reflected in poor functional literacy rates).

This is a problem when disinformation is so widespread if people don't have the skill or attention span to understand an issue.
- Based on the questions some people ask during movies, Imma say watching is a skill that requires practice as well.

Before the internet arrived at my home, I used to read a fair amount of books - maybe about ten every year - but that fell by the wayside, even after I bought an e-ink tablet specifically for the purpose.

However, I do a lot more of writing than I used to, in these threads as well as messaging friends and family, long chains of text bubbles about whatever's on my mind.

Also, thanks to some truly excellent YouTube channels - both from content creators and university lectures - I now understand things like cosmology and physics, math and ancient history, so much better than I used to, better than with any book I ever came across, and it is an exhilarating feeling. To the point that I now prefer binging on knowledge content than watching movies or television series.

To watch someone who has a way with words get carried away with excitement for an hour or two while describing things like the Michelson-Morley experiment, or the Stern-Gerlach experiment, Feynman diagrams and Penrose diagrams, makes me feel like something about society that used to be remote and flat and black & white, suddenly exploded into 3D and glorious technicolor.

Unfortunately, most of us who aren't doing the reading aren't watching educational content.

Glad to see that at least some people are using their time productively.
- A lot of us are. Lots of us like information rather than amusement (though the podcast playing right now is Probably Science which is as much comedy as science
Totally agree. I do the same with podcasts. So many interesting topics discussed by enthusiastic people, I love it.

Same...

I find that changing my environment helps me focus. I can’t zero in within my home, but if I go to a park away from distractions, my focus is much better. To a lesser degree, the same is true on my balcony. Makes a big difference.

Dont y'all read on your phones?

Counter argument: Books have become less interesting over time.

Nowadays, everyone writes a book. Average quality goes down.

Not if you never even touched it. I am currenty got into reading. Currently reading The Hunger Games.

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