How can I restore my concentration when reading?

I've found much of the same problem: I'm someone who's easily distracted anyway, and it's frustrating not being able to read.

Here's what I've found works for me, for books and articles:

- For books, setting aside dedicated time to read is really useful. This means that I leave my phone in another place, out of reach, so I'm not tempted to pick it up and check Facebook/Twitter/etc. For me, this is somewhere away from other distractions, like my computer / workspace, etc. - Set aside a small amount of time to read without distraction in a setting like this, and grow that amount. Maybe that's 10-15 minutes? Start that out as a routine, and as you get more comfortable with it, add on a little more time. Block out that space and aggressively protect it. I've found that setting aside reading time in the morning, before I open up my computer and check social media, really helps.

Generally, I've found that the more I read, the better I get at it: practice, practice, practice. Treat it like an atrophied skill.

For longer articles, I have a bookmark set up for the newsletter I write (andrewliptak.substack.com), in which I have a short recommended articles section. I reserve this for longer-form pieces, and when I come across something that looks interesting, I bookmark it and come back to it when I'm in a good mindset to actually read the thing (see my above point.) I've set aside other parts of the day (usually at the end) to read these sorts of things.

Another thing that I'd recommend is Pocket.

Another good practice thing for reading is short stories. I typically save them via pocket, and read them when I've got smaller pockets of time to read something.

Another ADDer here. I have two modes of operation: hyper focused or not. Things that require focus, like deep reading mean I need to switch operating modes. I have oodles of ways to address this issue so I only chose a few. Maybe one helps.

Ways I do that: 1. Be really interested in the content — not sure if this works with a non add brain, but it really doesn’t matter where I am, if it’s interesting I’ll jump right down that rabbit hole. Not sure that helps you but maybe can create some parameters for experimentation (like is there a pattern with your interest level and if so how can you mitigate that) 2. Meditation - specifically working with the breath. It takes 30s-3min for me to reboot my brain between tasks. Not much of an investment and in my experience it works. 3. Printing stuff out — i find it much easier to read deep if I have it on paper 4. Copying into an editor and editing — this is my goto for boring reads because it uses a different part of my brain that reading alone 5. At the end of each paragraph I ask myself “what was the point of that?” This is a habit that takes time to develop. At first you may get through an entire article without asking but eventually you can catch yourself sooner.

> Have you ever been in a similar situation?

Yes

> How did you overcome it?

- I'm able to focus better when I've slept well. This may sound obvious, but realizing this made me go from "Oh no I've damaged my focus by skimming too much!" to "Okay I just haven't slept well today. I'll do what I can."

- Set aside blocks of time and do one thing. I made and use https://crushentropy.com/ for this. I use it everyday and it has helped me a lot. It's like markdown for hi-res scheduling your day.

- Once I have clarity that I have nowhere else to be and nothing else to do right now, I'm able to relax into reading what I'm reading, which at the moment is: "Relevant Search" by Doug Turnbull and John Berryman, which I'm using to improve the search in https://histre.com/ if I may blatantly plug my startup ;) (Tangent: Why is search so broken in all knowledge base apps, bookmarking tools etc?)

- Work your way up. Several years ago, I used to read for 12 hours straight, taking just bio breaks. It was a more carefree time. I'm working my way back up to it. I'm at 2 hours now. It may seem little in comparison, but that's enormous progress from where I was a couple of years ago, so yay!

I think all of the comments are very helpful and are tactics I’ve used quite successfully to manage similar difficulties. But I wanted to add that your symptoms are also consistent with ADHD without being sufficient to merit such a diagnosis in and of themselves.

There are (some, controversial) indications that ADHD is over-diagnosed in male children and young adults. Less well known is that it’s likely under-diagnosed in women and older adults.

I was diagnosed as a child, had that diagnosis hidden from me and only began treatment in my 40s. The impact was life changing.

Everyone is distracted sometimes; everyone has specific tasks which reliably confound concentration. Neither is a sign of ADHD. But if your knowledge of the condition is very general you may benefit from a deeper review of the condition and, perhaps, a professional evaluation.

Or, you know - maybe just a kindle and some more captivating books.

Things that help me include:

- Listening to white noise such as rain sounds (e.g. rainymood.com), which seems to take up some of my brain's attention so that I can focus. It also helps with my tinnitus.

- Using a dedicated reading device with no or few other apps, such as an e-reader or very basic tablet. I use Instapaper to save articles for later reading, which brings me on to...

- Only reading when you have the time to focus, without interruptions or task switching. So no quick article reading during a restroom visit.

- Getting enough sleep, which tends to help with everything except having enough time in the day to do everything.

I’ve found that, like anything else, you can train yourself out of this kind of behavior simply by being conscious of it.

If you’re reading something on the web, pull the tab out into its own browser window and maximize it. If your OS of choice has a “silence notifications” option, use that. When you realize that you’ve gotten sidetracked just remind yourself that that’s not good and return to what you were doing.

Essentially this is a lite version of some mindfulness therapies. Over time actively centering yourself back in the moment will help your concentration just like it helps with anxiety.

While it doesn’t really help you, I thought I’d also relate a bit of an anecdote. For years and years I had a list of some of the “classics” that I felt like I should read because they were apparently so monumental we have to force every high school kid in the US to read them. For years I tried and made no progress - I could sit down with a fiction novel and be lost for hours, so it wasn’t my concentration, but any time I picked up something by (for example) Dickens I would spend three minutes actually reading and then my mind would wander. At some point I would notice that I’d been reading the same paragraph over and over and give up, disappointed in myself again.

Eventually I just realized that I simply hate Dickens and no amount of effort was going to make me start liking him. I had to admit that I was just never going to get that feeling of awe that I felt like I should have for any of his works and gave up and moved on to books I actually liked.

It won’t work if it’s something for work, but perhaps you’ve been focusing on things you feel like you should learn, but don’t really want to learn.

This doesn't work for everyone but for me, it's been two things:

(1) change of environment -- coffee shop, library, etc. Same principle as WFH separation between work/home -- your brain is wired to environment, often more than you think.

(2) going non-digital -- Rhodia premium paper & TWSBI Eco fountain pen for scribbling little notes (that I never expect to review again -- it's just for building muscle memory. It's ok to take notes that get thrown away!). Electronics are put away.

Also what really helps? Going in with a goal in mind, and a reason for engaging with the material. Not all books are meant to be read and finished.

Economist Tyler Cowen--an omnivorous high-volume reader--has a 50 page rule (if I remember correctly). Stick it out for the first 50 pages, and if you don't feel the book is interesting enough to continue, stop. Just stop. Be comfortable being a book non-completist.

(Caveat: mostly applies to non-fiction.)

My solution to this problem was to read things out loud (or whisper)—this way my mind stayed focused on the material much longer than I was reading silently. When I caught my mind wandering, I would go back to the point where I didn't remember what I've read and started again. I had situations when I had to read one sentence multiple times to understand it—my mind was completely somewhere else.

Another thing that had a big impact on me was to reduce internet news & social media consumption to the minimum. I found that reading things on a screen was part of the problem, so I read things only on paper. I still barely use social media and get my news only through weekly newspaper.

It's a nasty habit to skim read and I hope you'll overcome it.

I know what you're talking about and consciously trying to read books again basically repaired my severely atrophied attention span.

There was a period where I sheepishly don't even think I read a single article on HN. Just the title and then straight to the comments.

Retraining myself to be able to sit down and read a book apparently exercised the same muscle that lets me click into internet articles and read the whole thing. I just noticed that after I had a daily book habit for a couple months, I magically was reading articles again at some point.

Of course, sitting down with a book is the whole challenge in the first place. But at least you're away from the laptop and you have a fighting chance.

"How do you overcome it?" - don't.

Lots of other good suggestions on here, but I have some commentary on this problem as well.

I experience the same issue when trying to read with greater concentration. I start out and my brain goes crazy thinking about everything in the known universe. If I stick it out and keep trying to read, in about 10 to 15 minutes I notice that my concentration is restored.

10 - 15 minutes may seem like a hefty price to pay to read with attention, but consider this: the problem described here is very similar to many people's experience with meditation. I believe that this type of mental state is a sort of un-bundling for your brain, and once complete, you can better focus on the task at hand. In my experience, the more reading I do, the less time I spend in this state. By the time I finish a book I can pick it up and immerse myself instantly. Instead of viewing this as "waiting so you can read", try thinking of it as your daily meditation, without really needing to try.

I see this less as an impairment due to your skimming habits, and more of a natural process that many people experience.

The book “The Distracted Mind” is a pretty good overview of the science behind this. In terms of how to alleviate distraction, they recommend taking restorative breaks like walking in nature, standing up, making tea, etc. Even looking at pictures of nature can be effective. If you can substitute these breaks for the constant need to flip over to some other novel stimulus, over time you can build up your attention span. (Also, for me, I find meditation can really help build your focus over time. You can start with concentrating fully on your breathing for ten breaths, and work up gradually from there. Even a few very “mindful” breaths can be very effective.)

The single greatest (and most-overlooked) reading tech combo for me is a Kobo eReader + Pocket extension.

The browser plugin let's me add any articles I come across. The plugin UX on desktop is painless (one click) and on mobile it shows up through the "share" menu on Android os.

The Kobo can then sync those articles (ad free! Resizable text!). It's a great distraction-free way to read the articles and a great tool if you have certain vision issues. The Kobo can stay offline after it syncs and the battery will last for weeks.

I grew up with this disability and was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age. Are you sure that this is something new are are you just more aware of your tendencies with age? Either way, what helps me is the right environment and preparation. I have to make a space that is distraction free and if that isn’t possible, I rely on noise canceling headphones or random color visualizations in the background on a separate screen. CBD also really helps calm me down but that is probably because I’m on the spectrum as well..

A quick fix I found for this is to use a text-to-speech plugin for chrome (any text to speech service is fine).

I'm a huge podcast and audiobook fan and found that I couldn't stop skimming when trying to read online. This approach helps me to actually stick to reading the words on the screen without distraction.

By hearing AND reading, I find I'm able to retain the information better and I break the cycle of constantly rereading the first sentence of a large paragraph.

Make sure you’re disconnected while trying to read. Either a physical book or Kindle.

It helps to ritualize this disconnection by walking to a park or special reading chair.

I am developing a little add-on to improve reading comprehension. Firefox : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/colorify/ Chrome : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/colorify/pipnfjhpb...

I'm not sure whether or not it can help you, but it probably have an impact. It colors each sentence in a different color, so you can more easily process chunk by chunk restoring a reward for the brain for having completed a chunk.

It's also very colorful, so it may satiate your brain's novelty appetite.

Please give it a try, and leave me some feedback so I could eventually target this demographic if it's beneficial to them.

Thanks

Personally, when this happens I don't panic and think about engaged reading as a habit that I need to reacquire through practice. For example, I recently decided to read some Phillip K. Dick. A Scanner Darkly spent about four weeks on the nightstand. UbiK about two weeks. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep three nights. At full tilt, I'd have read any of those in a single day. But it doesn't matter. Nobody cares how fast I read. Nobody cares how much I retain. Nobody cares if I don't finish a book. Including me. It's not that I don't prefer to finish books or retain a lot. It's that there are a lot of books that aren't worth reading and a lot of books that are finishable that aren't worth remembering.

I followed the Deep Work and power of habit approach.

* Get disconnected from gadget.

* Associate reading with some other task, aka listening to instrumentals. This will trigger you to pick book, get into reading mode.

* Pick or make a reading corner where you don't have any distraction.

* Divide 25-30 mins chunks.

* Eat well, breath and meditate.

Keep it simple: be intentional, and practice. Get in the habit of reading long-form works on a regular cadence. You don't need to hoist Proust's In Search of Lost Time into your lap, pen in hand, ready to take notes in the margins. Just grab something interesting to you that you can engage with and be stimulated by. Play some classical or other instrumental music in the background if you prefer. If you have thoughts about the work as you're reading, jot them down and follow up with them later. The point is to make a concerted effort to tune everything else out except the work and your thoughts about it--you can stop to look around the scenery but don't ever take your foot off the gas.

Not completely related to your question but this video helped me getting start reading again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIW5jBrrsS0

Try listening to white noise while you read: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzjWIxXBs_s

One solution that has helped me is this extension[0] that reads pages using Google Wavenet, which is a very decent AI generated text-to-speech, so it's almost like listening to a lecture in YouTube. It takes a bit to setup but after you do it's working perfectly.

[0]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/read-aloud-a-text-...

Print it and read in a place without internet access.

Try to make sure you don’t go past any word that you do not understand.

It really helped me

https://www.scientology.org/courses/study/overview.html

http://www.studytechnology.org/10-barr.html

I used to have this problem. A break from caffeine, forced daily reading, and liberal use of the pomodoro technique pretty much fixed this. It also helped me when I took a several month break from social media and other sites that use machine learning algorithms to maximize engagement.

I had this very same problem. I had to just force myself to read. There are no shortcuts.

I started with reading news reports and progressed to books. The one must is that it has to be something you are very interested in reading and you have to do it every day

I’m in the same boat.

A friend told me she went cold turkey on reading anything that scrolls. She said it took about three weeks for her brain to come back. Now she’s back to reading 600 page books. I’ve tried but I can only make it a day or two.

if you can, create a room which contains no easily accessible electronics. Then go sit there and forbid yourself from leaving for 90 minutes.

After an hour or so of going mildly insane, you should get a good 30 minutes of reading in.

Go out into woods with no devices and just said book. Get a few good night's sleep out there. Focus will come back without thinking.

Your brain is tired, and you are getting older. It's natural. Take a vacation.

Meditation helps to a degree.