Does anybody else dislike reading?

Tyguy said:
Jesus ****ing Christ, can some of you get of your pedestal for 5 minutes and not act like douche bags? There are some people out there who actually find it difficult to hold the attention span necessary to sit down and spend a good amount of time reading a book. There's this thing common among young adults called ADD (actually not a made up term!), any of you pricks ever heard of it?

ITT: "If you don't read a lot then you are a drain on society and should just kill yourself"

Personally, I read when I have spare time and I'm generally interested in the material, short of having to read textbooks. I find that taking an adderall and sitting down with a book is a recipe for success, but some people in this thread can easily sit down and read for 10 hours without problem to which I say "good for you".

I have issues sometimes because of my obsessive nature while reading. Having constant and involuntary thoughts running through my head all day makes it tough to read sometimes so that occasionally puts me off. This is in large part due to my battle with OCD but I accept that and do the best I can.

To the OP: Find your motivation. Find some material that really interests you. Read slowly so you absorb the material and are not just simply reading to get to the next chapter. We all have our interests so certain books are going to be easy and some are just going to be painful. You might have ADD or something going on preventing you from maintaining the attention span required to sit down for a while and read. In that case, see if there is an underlying issue. Some people just don't like reading books, it's not a crime. I've found that the older I get the more interested I am in reading and presently I'm trying to get through at least 1 book a month unrelated to coursework.

Ok, continue flaming...
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Thank you. I was waiting for someone to say this, and I'm glad you did. When I read through this thread, the farther I was into it, the more angry I got. Everyone just had some sort of "If you don't read, you are not intelligent enough for this world." tone. I guess I can kind of understand where people are coming from at the same time though. When you read a really good book, and really think about what you read, you feel good. But then when someone says they don't like reading, you find it absolutely absurd, and cannot comprehend it. For educational books, as it was said before, some people just don't learn well from reading. Some need hands on teaching done with them. I for one, when studying for something, need to read a sentence/passage several times before understanding it, and sometimes I even need to read it out loud. It all depends.
 
Haven't read the rest of the topic (so there's your answer), but yes, I do (this is also your answer). My dislike developed about halfway through my English degree. Read only one work of fiction since graduation, and thankfully it was short.
 
Tyguy said:
So according to you ADD and OCD aren't real? I'd love for you to find a reliable source to base this on. It's one thing to offer an opinion but to dismiss something because you're painfully ignorant about it is another.



Attention: ADD and OCD aren't real ladies and gentleman. I repeat, a disorder that affects millions of people worldwide is not real. Bravo.

This is a nice example of "well if I don't have it, it must not be a problem".

Very pathetic, both of you.
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My sister has OCD (yes, until she took medication, she would wash her hands for 15 minutes at a time), two of my brothers and I have Bi-Polar disorder, and I have also been diagnosed with ADD.

My comment was [perhaps not] clearly showing how foolish Darkside55s comment was. I'm not sure if he was serious, but what darkside said was akin to claiming that mind altering drugs like LCD don't actually alter the way you think.

Conditions like Bi-Polar and OCD are a chemical imbalance in the brain. Our brain doesn't work the same as others. Someone once told me my condition was "all in my mind.", which really pissed me off. So I said, "Yeah! That's the problem."

Some people, even some doctors, think that if you can't see something wrong, it doesn't exist. They believe things like retardation because they can clearly see a problem. But they don't always believe in mental disorders because the signs aren't always there. When they see someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder doing something strange, like washing their hands for 15 minutes at a time, checking to make sure the door is locked 20 times a day, or what-have-you, their "cure" is to stop doing it. Which is pretty ridiculous; they don't call it "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" for nothing.

Thankfully, with modern technology, a brain scan can show that the brain of people with these disorders clearly works differently. So whether they are real or not is no longer up for debate.

And yeah, reading is sometimes difficult, particularly if I don't find the subject interesting. My attention wanders. Focusing on a task at hand can be difficult. I re-read the same sentence several times before realizing I don't remember anything about what I read on the last few pages of a book. People with ADD can become very engrossed in television and film; it just holds our attention better. And so it really has nothing to do with intelligence, but rather the ability to focus.
 
Hmm. At the risk of turning this thread into lock-able material, do you know anything about using substances like LSD to treat ADD and OCD? (lots of D-cronyms D: ) I've been reading about its use in studies on depression and PTSD, but it'd be really interesting to see if it has any positive effects on other disorders.
 
Tyguy said:
So according to you ADD and OCD aren't real? I'd love for you to find a reliable source to base this on.
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Haha, because I said "ADD and OCD aren't real." See, that's why you should read more, because I can see you've already got poor reading comprehension. I just laughed that you're blaming it on disorders. My best friend throughout high school and college had ADHD and he read like a motherfucker. Saying shit like, "Maybe some people got ADD so they got trouble reading!" is bullshit.

Also I lol'd to get a rise out of you because you were already so visibly mad.

You mad.

VirusType2 said:
My comment was [perhaps not] clearly showing how foolish Darkside55s comment was.
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Man I'm like the only dude in here who realized you were being sarcastic, and towards me. Everybody else here thought you were being serious or trolling Ty. Poor reading comprehension up in this thread about reading!
 
Stigmata said:
Hmm. At the risk of turning this thread into lock-able material, do you know anything about using substances like LSD to treat ADD and OCD? (lots of D-cronyms D: ) I've been reading about its use in studies on depression and PTSD, but it'd be really interesting to see if it has any positive effects on other disorders.
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Absolutely not.

They say everyone reacts to drugs differently, and obviously, I can't compare my experience with people that don't have disorders, but mind altering drugs like LSD, marijuana, (etc...) made my ability to focus much worse. LSD was particularly crazy because we kept forgetting everything. (you can't imagine not having a short term memory) Friends and I were running around outside in our boxers...

It's a very powerful and dangerous drug (my sister who has OCD thought she could fly) and while a few people swear they like it, I would strongly discourage it.

It can cause you to do something foolish, like trying to fly from buildings or swim in carpet. It's also quite a painful and long lasting poison.
 
VirusType2 said:
Thankfully, with modern technology, a brain scan can show that the brain of people with these disorders clearly works differently. So whether they are real or not is no longer up for debate.
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That evidence is usually far more ropey than tends to be reported, particularly for ADD where due to flawed controls it's not always clear whether differences are due to medication.

Besides, just because you can see a difference doesn't necessarily mean it's a disorder. You can see differences between left and right handed people. Is having one over the other a disorder, or natural variation?
 
Hmm, fair enough. I'm not sure. It was just something I picked up on a short medical film "Understanding BiPolar". The short spiel seemed to be trying to push drugs, since it was sponsored by drug companies.

I would love for science be able to prove whether someone had it or not, because that could really stop a lot of people who simply think they have a disorder, or merely claim to. It could also lead to a better understanding of what actually is going on and how to treat it... and stuff.
 
The problem I have is the assumed causation rather than correlation.

Is differences in people's brain scans and brain chemistry the cause of a disorder such as ADD or a symptom of a psychological problem? Perhaps depression is the best example to illustrate this, as it clearly has many psychological causes yet neuroimaging shows differences versus non-depressed people.
The chicken and egg puzzle here hasn't been answered, and could be complicated by probable feedback loops between the two, at least with some conditions.
 
I used to read religiously before I went to bed every night. Up to three hours sometimes I'd say. Then I got to college and between starting my first year of college and finishing my last exam that year I had managed to read about three pages of Dune (I was in the middle of the book, was very difficult to remember what was happening when I picked it up again). I did read a handful of graphic novels/limited series in that year though, but comics are much easier to read.

I managed to pick up again over the summer thankfully and I've just finished reading Unseen Academicals. I think it's a shame when people can't bring themselves to read; they're denying themselves a great deal.
 
I'm the same. I used to go through a book a week (usually more) from the start of primary school up until I started college. Now I'm doing a really hard course so in my spare time I like to watch completely inane TV programmes that I can do my quantum physics homework in front of. I'm trying to make myself read again though, and I enjoy it when I do. It just takes me longer.
 
Darkside55 said:
Haha, because I said "ADD and OCD aren't real." See, that's why you should read more, because I can see you've already got poor reading comprehension.
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Let me get this straight...you believe I have poor reading comprehension based on the fact that I maintain that both ADD and OCD are real mental disorders?

:rolleyes:

Darkside55 said:
I just laughed that you're blaming it on disorders. My best friend throughout high school and college had ADHD and he read like a motherfucker. Saying shit like, "Maybe some people got ADD so they got trouble reading!" is bullshit.
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I never said that the OP HAS these problems, I merely speculated that it was a possibility. The fact that your friend reads a lot and happens to have ADHD is both irrelevant and inconsequential to my point. You're also applying that example to everybody with ADD to suggest that it doesn't interfere with reading. This is just idiotic and you know it.[/quote]

Darkside55 said:
Also I lol'd to get a rise out of you because you were already so visibly mad.
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So you admit you were trolling? This at least makes the rest of your post unambiguous.

Dan said:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/
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That's a pretty good read
 
Tyguy said:
Let me get this straight...you believe I have poor reading comprehension based on the fact that I maintain that both ADD and OCD are real mental disorders?
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They're just excuses doctors came up with for why kids are annoying.
 
How can OCD affect reading ability?

I'm sure some people are born with an abnormal amount of a certain brain chemical but in all honesty, I think most mental conditions have psychological roots not physical ones.

It's like I know a fair few people who blame 'depression' for dropping out of uni, or quitting a job. As if depression was a cause in itself, but I suspect it's more likely a symptom of a deeper psychological issue that should be treated, rather than masked with drugs.

No doubt that some people have serious chemical imbalances though, but I doubt it's that common.
 
Solaris said:
How can OCD affect reading ability?

I'm sure some people are born with an abnormal amount of a certain brain chemical but in all honesty, I think most mental conditions have psychological roots not physical ones.
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The Obsession aspect of OCD manifests itself in an infinite amount of ways. The most obtrusive thoughts cause people to lose concentration and think abnormally. A significant number of people with OCD have issues with repetition and numbers which can obviously contribute to someone's ability to pay attention, especially when reading a book. Ever get a song stuck in your head? Times that by a thousand and try being as attentive.

Solaris said:
It's like I know a fair few people who blame 'depression' for dropping out of uni, or quitting a job. As if depression was a cause in itself, but I suspect it's more likely a symptom of a deeper psychological issue that should be treated, rather than masked with drugs.
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There are plenty of studies which show the relationship between those suffering with depression and levels of serotonin. That's basically the physically part of the equation. The depression itself can be crippling and is often the cause of other issues such as anxiety. Besides using drugs to alleviate the symptoms, you basically have to train yourself to think in a different way to make any real progress in combating depression. It's sounds almost holistic but if you think about how neural connections are formed in our brains you understand how a drug can't simply fix the problem.

Solaris said:
No doubt that some people have serious chemical imbalances though, but I doubt it's that common.
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You would be surprised at the number of people who complain about being depressed. I don't have a figure to give you but take into account the number of commercials for SSRI's (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) and it's easy to see the market is large and growing.
 
Tyguy said:
Let me get this straight...you believe I have poor reading comprehension based on the fact that I maintain that both ADD and OCD are real mental disorders?
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Naw man, I maintain that you have poor reading comprehension because that's not what I said at all. Hey, I thought you said ADD and OCD makes you read over a sentence multiple times? Obviously it ain't working 'cause you'd think if your disorder made you compulsively read what I said like four or five times you'd get what I meant.

Based on that I don't think you have ADD. Or OCD.

Enjoy not reading books.

Tyguy said:
So you admit you were trolling?
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ríomhaire said:
It's Darkside.
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I made sure to read your post a bunch of times and I have yet to find anything relevant or mildly clever. Let me keep checking...
 
The one reading problem I have that I hate, is reading paragraphs over and over. Sometimes I'll reread a series of paragraphs over again like five to six times before moving on.
 
Tyguy said:
There are plenty of studies which show the relationship between those suffering with depression and levels of serotonin. That's basically the physically part of the equation.
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Actually like I said, it only shows a relationship of correlation, not causation - or certainly not anything more than being the proximate cause. Nobody is saying those people aren't depressed, so why would there not be different levels of some chemicals in their brain? That's how the brain works.
It doesn't mean that some inexplicable chemical imbalance is the root cause rather than a psychological problem.
 
I think all the reading that I do in classes has kinda turned me off of reading in general.
 
I have never, ever been bored by text until recently, when I picked up The Brothers Karamazov.

I still have a boner for Dostoevsky, and love his ideas, but there is no question that this book would have benefited from an editor.
 
I didn't read this thread to see if anyone made this joke yet, but: TLDR.
 
See what I did there? That was totally a meta-joke. I'm awesome.
 
No, I don't. Honestly I only made it halfway through your latest post and got distracted by sparkly .gifs.
 
Reading is obsolete. We got tapes for that now. Join the new Millennium fagits.
 
As far as I can recall the only book I've failed to finish was Les Mis. Goddamn some editor should have taken a hatchet to that mess. Self-indulgence fail
 
I love reading but I don't see any reason to castigate those who don't. Books are so full of awesome things that not reading is its own punishment.

brosephconrad.gif


Right now I'm reading a ****ton because revision for my final exams consists of knowing as much as possible (or a tactically reasonable amount) about the entire English canon from 1066 to 1832. This is a lot of words.

ShadowArmy said:
I wondered why I read forums alot but dislike other reading material. But then I realized that to finish reading one post and moving on to the next is the equivilent of transitioning to a different chapter/section. And lurking in a different thread is like putting a book down and switching to a whole other book. And it all happens very quickly given the size of posts/threads.
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Have you tried Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut? Or, if you can handle the archaic language and 250-year-old wit, Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne? Both of these works are made of hundreds of tiny little fragments, some only a few lines long, through which you are free to gambol at leisure. James Ellroy's American Tabloid is also a bit like this; most chapters are only a few pages long. If you feel like you want to try and acclimatise yourself to reading these books would be great places to start. You could also start reading plays, since they're composed of dialogue.
 
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