Considering the sheer number of people who basically can't read, and the even greater number of people who are incapable of abstract thought, I think it got you further than a lot of people get.
this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2025
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reading way above my grade level didn't get me as far in life as my parents had expected
Fixed it
Ha! Good point
General media literacy is pretty nice.
Yes, but only because my gender is 'cassandra'.
I don’t believe you…
I hate you.
Feels like a curse in today's world, honestly.
facts . . .I started reading novels at an early age, started writing my own short stories, and became a voracious reader into high-school till I hit university . . . .
But as a kid, I thought I would become a writer, and a great one at that. Now, I still love writing but my love for poetry and fiction didn't translate to job opportunities hahaha
Honestly, the reading level thing sucked. My school, when I was young, required reading a certain number of books at our reading level. I was maxed out at a college level in third or fourth grade. Nothing kills your desire to read like being forced to read novels when your peers are reading Dr. Seuss. It made me hate reading for the longest time.
I was "college level" in 6th grade. Figured it was bullshit. Nope. Most people can't fucking read.
It didn’t help that the world we are in is now and more geared towards short term formats (memes, tiktoks, snippets of news…). A world were the ability to read long texts is undervalued and eroded every day
i actually hate reading now
It really is only useful for retreating into fiction and howling into the void. Facts don't matter. Truths dont matter. Only tribes.
i mean i'll consume fiction in short bursts (like fanfic chapter updates) but it's very hard to focus on large paragraphs and i get annoyed that by the end i'm not absorbing the material at all. something i had subscribed to on ao3 came out with a chapter recently that used basic html colour rendering for some of the chapter's symbolism but it clashed with my dark theme and was unreadable and i had to ask the co-author if it was okay if i used reader mode to actually see the fucking words.
also i got punished for spending too much time on the computer in my teens by having to spend time reading books. i absolutely abhor the format of physical books now. i'm an OG harry potter hater because my stepmom started me on the 4th book and i was so fucking lost on what anything was. i did end up going back and reading the first 3 and enjoying them and finally understanding the 4th, but i got halfway thru book 5 (when it was new) and i was just so over it all.
I know you are not asking for advice, but your situation is not unique, at all. The age of scrolling has impacted our capability of long term concentration, has eroded the parts of the brain supposed to let us get « into the flow » and store information for the medium term (and therefore the long term) memory.
If (big if) you want to undo it, it’s a lot of work, but it will not only help with reading, but also with all long term efforts, such as long term host projects that require sustained concentration, learning new skills and so forth. The path is to decrease the amount of short term enjoyment every day, and slowly replace it with longer term enjoyment. This practically looks like less scrolling and more reading/crafting/exercising without distractions. Short stories and podcasts or documentaries are a great form factor to start un-scrolling. Personally, if you want to get back into reading, I advice a low stake page turner as a first book. Something to train the brain while enjoying every page. A step at a time the length of the books can increase, or not! Just get back into enjoying.
*advise
I didn’t know there was a difference between advice and advise, but in this case it seems to me the noun is the most appropriate form ?
The first one, yes. The second, not so much.
i think you missed the part where the damage is twenty years extant.
Typo? Should I assume extent?
Does it change anything? I’d a smooker wants to quit, the path is the same independently of how long they have b been smoking
No, you should not assume 'extent'. 'Extent' and 'extant' are different words and 'extant' was used correctly
Thanks! I was really trying to figure it out. Defined should check my hubris and recognize my limited knowledge more often.
New word in my personal vocabulary!
I sometimes wonder if I hate reading, or just hate that I can't find books I enjoy reading. It feels like all the books that have come out in the past fifteen years are written as YA fantasy/scifi, and I'm just not a fan of that genre. Give me my Agatha Christie knockoffs back.
I don't hate it but as a kid I would read legit like 2 or 3 books every week and now I do maybe one per month and struggle to stay focused, and also feel like a disappointment to my younger self.
If only you would have been born into a wealthy family instead of reading ... slacker.
100% the case for me
Not such a bad place to be.
Yes, everyone tells me I am an amazing writer and also very good at reading, but now in college I haven’t had many opportunities. I’m due that I will soon though.