Since the spring I can’t even get through an audiobook. Is this normal to have phases of attention deficit or is it time to get back on the meds

I get the same thing. From personal experience I think it’s just a matter of honing your patience/ability to focus

Same, happens with other medias too. Any ideas how to deal? Sometimes I feel like it's like my brain telling me to do somethin' different or try, even for short time, another hobby.

if your schedule allows it try reading in the morning BEFORE you use the internet or any devices

yeah ive been struggling with committing to finishing all of these books ive bought

i smoke too much weed to concentrate on reading so i dont even bother.

i have several books im a few chapters into that i just havent gotten around to finishing.

definitely something i seriously need to get back into. my mental health is way better when i read for whatever reason. @op

put your phone in another room

forever

and if u read from your phone download an app that blocks other apps or, even better, disinstall what distracts you

I found that sometimes I’m not able to focus on certain books but others come easy since they are more engaging to my current interests. Try an easier read as a warm up or a favorite genre of yours

@op exercise more

Out attention spans get worse as we get older. Electronics don’t help at all.

my grandma 96, sharp as a tack, and reads like 5 hours a night

this pretty normal tho OP. you're probably either reading books that don't resonate with you or going through a reading slump. some months I devour 4-6 books and other months I barely finish 1

try reading in a new genre, free from distractions in a comfortable environment

I’m not saying that was objective fam haha. It’s definitely not everyone, but it’s just a theme I’ve noticed amongst my peers most of us can’t focus on one thing for s***

electronics make things significantly worse, actually most people underestimate their impact

@op if meds help go ahead but you should try to build up your attention span naturalistically as well. exercise, meditation, and staying away from sources of instant gratification and electronics helps immensely in my personal experience

also reading in the morning or before sleeping like someone else suggested

and using physical books makes things 100x easier, cant recommend them enough over e-books/audiobooks

Damn I feel like this sometime and I've never been diagnosed with anything

When you read on your phone

its an everyday struggle for a lot of people who love to read. A.D.D and all those things aside, really depends on whether your life is hectic right now. really depends on how much you are concentrating on other things, on how much discipline you have. put your phone in another room when reading, even when using it for an audiobook. you really don't need your phone, as long as you have wireless headphones to control the audiobook. make reading a habit 1 hour in the morning. Listen to the audiobook as you are doing tasks - that works for me.

on the treadmill, while driving, while cleaning, walking the dog, taking a p00p etc.

That helps me usually get through about 10-12 books a year.

for those that can't afford audible, find your book on audibookbay, download it to iTunes, change the file type to audiobook, add to your phone, and it'll show up in the Books App with all the controls you would find in Audible. Life changing for me.

Ths works well tbh. Especially genre. I was reading some Philip K D*** books a while back and I just did not enjoy it unfortunately and went back to reading books with stronger prose writing and it works well my brain. My brain moves at crazy speeds so reading a book where the author is moving at the same pace helped me a lot get back into a comfortable reading schedule.