this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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ADHD
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My ADHD makes it so I can't read books for shit anymore, even though I would go through several every week as a kid. For anyone else having this problem, one thing that sometimes helps me is to listen to someone read the text while reading along. This could be an audiobook, but there's also an extension for Firefox called "Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader" to get through pdf files.
Cannot stress this method enough especially for information heavy books. Listening while reading along can be slow but I understand and remember the information so much better
That's really interesting. I've never tried this but I imagine it would take a bit of practice to sync your reading speed with the audiobook speed, but that could just be me. One thing that has helped me in the past is trying to voice each character distinctly in my head (this is the only way I made it most of the way through Trails in the Sky) but that also slows my reading way down. Which now that I put two and two together probably has something to do with it 😅
I love The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I read it through as a teenager without an issue. Then as an adult, I "re-read" it again through audiobooks.
I've been trying to read the book itself again, but I keep losing track and thinking back to the audiobook, surprised at how easily I followed the story when I heard it read out loud. I may have to try using the audiobook while reading along this time. Thanks for the tip!
I think I just have access to social media and YouTube now, so my required stimulation levels to read without getting a compulsion to do something whenever it gets slow are so much higher.
When I'm not at home, I can read for hours (e.g. at my parents' house)
This could also just be from ADHD burnout. Many ADHD kids make it through to adulthood by burning up 10 times the energy of our peers. By the time we do get there our reserves can be absolutely shot. I haven't made it back to reading books yet but I have found that I can sink into new non-digital hobbies like horticulture. My guess is that it uses a mental energy well that I haven't tapped yet, at least not completely.