# Reading and Poor Attention Spans



## Monie (May 7, 2005)

Hey, I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this, but its the best place I can think of. I have a bit of a problem with reading. I lose my attention span really quickly. Moreover, it is hard for me to stay focused on what I am doing. When I read, I find myself "zoning out" and thinking of something completely different than whats in front of me. Sometimes it even happens multiple times as I am reading just one page. This has been going on for just the past few years, before that I could read Stephen King in a car trip. This is kinda upsetting to me, seeing as it prevents me from enjoying literature. What can I do about this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.


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## lisajane (May 7, 2005)

That happens to me with non-fiction. I can't read much non-fiction because my mind disappears and I've got no idea of what the book's on about, come back and give up.


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## Drzava (May 13, 2005)

Take some Ritalin


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## Monie (May 13, 2005)

Thanks... that was helpful...  :roll:


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## Drzava (May 13, 2005)

Exactly what kind of advice can we offer?  Focus harder.


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## bobothegoat (May 13, 2005)

Maybe the book you're reading isn't very good?


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## lisajane (May 14, 2005)

Maybe you mentally just don't like to read books anymore.


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## grapefruit shall rule O_o (May 14, 2005)

The same happens to me with romance novels.

Today I was hooked on a loooong book about MARKETING.


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## Monie (May 16, 2005)

I guess I just suck  :lol: Just kidding. I think what it is is that whenever I'm reading a peice of fiction my mind starts creating its own story, sort of like an off-shoot of what I'm reading. I just realized that I do this when reading fiction. It is easier for me to read non-fiction as long as it is a topic that interests me. SO perhaps I just need to get my imagination in check   

Thanks for the help.


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## fastkilr (Sep 27, 2005)

I can't read without Adderall, though I wish I didn't have to admit that.


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## Hodge (Sep 27, 2005)

ADD exists in some people—true ADD. As with OCD and many other disorders, it isn't a "you have it or you don't" type condition. Rather, everyone has it but to a varying degree. Little kids are hyper and inattentive because—surprise surprise—they're little kids. Teenagers are often hyper and inattentive because—again, surprise surprise—they're teenagers, and most have not matured very much.

It's incredibly overdiagnosed, and I think that only a few people really have a condition we can truly call abnormal.


On a side note, my best friend went on ADHD meds a couple years ago. He lost a ton of weight in a short amount of time (about 50 lbs. in less than two months), and his personality completely changed. 

He isn't my best friend anymore and he now spends his time wishing he hadn't flunked out of college (he skipped all his classes almost every day) and drinking.


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## fastkilr (Sep 28, 2005)

Well it keeps my hyperactivity down. Without it, I'm everywhere, and cannot focus on ANYTHING.


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## fastkilr (Sep 28, 2005)

Yeah I've considered that lately. I don't know. I've done stuff before, and it really messes people up. I don't want to be dependant once I'm older.


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## fastkilr (Sep 30, 2005)

Well, I still read extremely well without it (for what I see from the slow people around me). Besides, I don't know how well Dyslexia would go with my ADHD. I think they're a bit like opposits. I also think I read better because I'm over stimulated and feeling like I must accomplish or prove something.


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## mollybloom (Oct 2, 2005)

ADD exists in writers too, not only readers.

Some authors or filmmakers you can tell, have a short attention span and they don't have the patience to fully explore a moment in their work.  However, because of their innovative techniques, sometimes they can still enthrall their readers.


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## fastkilr (Oct 3, 2005)

If over-stimulating doesn't make me do anything better, then why would I do it every time I have a bigger assignment due? I'm pretty sure that if I'm over stimulated on a drug that'll make my ADHD better...I'll also do better in school.


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## TsuTseQ (Oct 3, 2005)

Monie said:
			
		

> I think what it is is that whenever I'm reading a peice of fiction my mind starts creating its own story, sort of like an off-shoot of what I'm reading. I just realized that I do this when reading fiction. It is easier for me to read non-fiction as long as it is a topic that interests me. SO perhaps I just need to get my imagination in check



I do that too, especially during movies. I just watched Beowulf and Grendel at a film festival and found myself wondering what it would have been like to be a viking. Needless to say, I missed a good quarter of the movie. :roll: My friends had to fill me in.  

Don't worry about getting your imagination in check, unless it's getting in the way of things you need to do. It just seems like an imaginative idea sparks your own thoughts -- not a bad thing at all.


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## fastkilr (Oct 5, 2005)

Yeah so as for that over-stimulation helping me, it's been making me terribly sick lately. No help at all. I am going to just stick to a lower dose. What should I do? I feel like I can't write well without the medication.


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## epone (Nov 6, 2005)

Sorry, lost interest...


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## poetrykid16 (Jan 4, 2006)

It's okay. I'm like that. It drives my teachers insane. it's only because I'm really creative with work that I pass. I had to figure out how to learn. because I have a short attention span I have to think of things in different ways so that I can stay focused on school.


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## Dresdor (Jan 6, 2006)

Study writing styles, or take an advanced english literature class...you'll be horribly interested looking for all sorts of stylistics and wondering why the writer wrote what he did...

It will ruin literature for you forever, but you'll be reading deeply


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## good_i_mean_well (Aug 26, 2006)

if you play video games stop.  that used to happen with me, but then i worked up my attention span.  reading was the biggest thing, the more i read the more i built up my attention span.  also guitar doing boring practicing would build it up too, just waiting too helped build it up.  when i play video games, it kills my attention span and i have to build it up again.


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