this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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How do I read? [Serious] (hexbear.net)
submitted 2 days ago by lobaa@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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OK the title is a joke but the question is serious. A bit of backstory:

My parents failed to make me love books, because they also introduced me to a PlayStation 2, and I decided that I like playing vidya games a lot more than reading stuff. School didn't make me love books either because the literature they force you to read in my curriculum, is, in my opinion, better suited for adult reading.

Fast forward to now, I am a freshman in a prestigious university, but it turns out that it requires me to read a lot of stuff, but I don't really have enough willpower to sit through academic literature for more than an hour a day. And the fact I'm noticeably behind my peers in amount of books read makes me feel like I don't belong.

So my question is how to learn to love reading books, get immersed or enter flow state or whatever, and also retain information? Is it some kind of talent or superpower? I know a few of my peers who don't stop reading books and seem to not distract themselves with tiktoks and video games, and attend optional lectures in their free time which is kind of insane to me, but I respect it a lot and want to become like them.

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[–] quarrk@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Have you ever gone camping/off-grid for an extended time, with nothing to do but read or play cards? It’s not hard to read in those environments because your brain has recalibrated its dopamine expectation.

The problem is almost entirely situational. You don’t need to love books more, you need better “attention hygiene.” What do you do when you aren’t reading, what effect does that have on your attention? In what physical space are you trying to read - is a computer or TV nearby? Go to the quiet area in the library with your phone shut off in your bag, and start reading.

I no longer own a TV or any gaming console, and the effect on my mental health has been great. My thinking has slowed down.

I recommend buying auxiliary devices like e-readers and e-ink writing/note-taking devices. They don’t have all the dopamine-triggering animations of a smartphone. The pace is slower, that is healthy for your brain. Any time you want to read a PDF, transfer it to your e-reader, even if you technically could read it from your phone.