- Loosing interest in reading in childhood due to mandatory readings
- Dream world of the books: way to cope with, or rather to avoid reality?
- You only need to find one genre that you like…
- Nowadays with the stimuli overload, is it still possible to concentrate on a reading?
What makes you restart reading after you stopped doing that? I think many people share the experience of having to read a book (or rather, more than one) in their childhood that did not interest them. Not to mention that with the lot of impulse that comes from social medias, for some people it seems impossible to regain their previous level of concentration for a longer period. So, what’s the solution?
The mandatory readings in school
I wonder whether this was a good or a bad thing? Do not misunderstand me, I hated it, but still, school is where we – in the best case – gain a general education and overview on culture (and sciences of course). However, these books are often not written for the age group in which they are read and analysed. Yet, it is almost impossible to persuade an adult who already left school to read a book “on command” just because that book is part of our culture! There are many arguments for and against too, and with a complete overview of these reasons, it’s not so certain that we could reach a clear conclusion or be able to decide what would be the right thing to do with those mandatory readings.
From my experience, I can say that I simply hated books because I had to read them, and when this pressure eased, I stopped reading altogether. And yes, when I was young, this was certainly influenced by the fact that there were popular kids who did all sorts of things, but reading was never one of the cool activities. That was for the less popular kids who were not coping well with “reality”, so they went to their dream-world.
Well, as an adult, I’d say the table has turned on many ways. Dream-world is a way to cope well with reality! You can learn many things from the characters and stories that you read, even if you rather read for entertainment and not for self-developpment.
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R. R. Martin
The change of the environement
Interestingly, I started secondary school at an elite school in my country, where reading was not at all popular in my class. Long story short, I finished my studies in another secondary school in a good neighbourhood, but that school was on of the average ones, and here reading was much more popular! At the latter institution, even the maths teacher recommended reading books, and some of the popular kids were open about their love of reading. There were even those who brought books with them or read ebooks on their phones!
Here, I tried reading too, because I no longer felt it was either embarrassing or compulsory. First, I looked around to see what genres were the others reading? Not many of them appealed to me at first, but after some research, I finally found things that interested me!
For example, I became a big fan of Romantic literature because I love the extreme and powerful characterisations of the protagonists in these books. Reading them, I discovered that reading can be extremely entertaining when the story and characters are engaging, far from tiring or dull, and not at all a waste of time, and certainly not “work”.
Later, my horizons broadened further: I became open to the literature of different, more distant peoples and other eras, historical and adventure novels, and so on. And of course, you can sometimes find a very good book (and many more that are not so good) on a specific topic. Since I had already discovered that reading was not embarrassing in my second high school, I enjoyed reading at university too, even when I was surrounded by people who…. had not yet found the genre and the change that the literature of romanticism brought to me.
This tendency has not changed for me ever since, because I realized that one does not read for the sake of others, so consequently one does not have to “not read” just because others have not yet discovered the excitement of reading, or find joy in books.
I didn’t need anything more than to see around me that reading is not compulsory, but not embarassing or wierd either, and to discover those topics and styles that interest me, because there are a thousand and one types of books! Will I read everything that comes my way after this? Probably not, but whenever I’m traveling, I always take something to read with me. Normally something in an electronic format, as my phone is always with me anyways.
How to read easily today?
In addition, I almost always read something nowadays, and personally, I like it when, for example, I have to wait somewhere for 20 minutes during the day for whatever reason, and I just take out my phone, on which I read e-books, and I can immediately pick up the story where I left off. It’s much more enjoyable than spending those 20 minutes getting stressed about how long I have to wait, and it makes the time pass more quickly.
Moreover, I always carry my phone with me (it has become such a part of our life that we feel naked if we have to leave home without it), so my reading material is always in my pocket, waiting for me to pick it up again. 🙂
When it comes to our habits, researchers found that our mind actually builds pathways for our activities, which means that if you do something often, you’ll become better at it. (1) An example which is very easy to imagine: when you learn to ride a bike, or learn to drive a car. In the beginning, things takes time and seems to be impossible to master them well, but with time and practice these skills are improving.
And that’s the same with reading! If you feel that you can not pay attention anymore, because you had a phase when you were overloaded with stimuli, then all you need to do is: practice! TAke your time, be patient, and if you once learned to concentrate for only one thing for a longer period of time, then this skill is going to come back relatively easily. If not, then it’s just the right time to learn something new!
(1) https://pe.ccsu.edu/what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-learn-a-new-skill/