Let’s Read Fiction

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Clarissa

December 26, 2022

One great idea in Stolen Focus is to read fiction to improve your focus. Hari provides a solid scientific argument to support this idea and also explains why reading for pleasure is on the wane and how that is connected with the general erosion of attention.

I don’t need to be persuaded to read fiction but I’m happy that other people are seeing its importance, too. I’m currently trying to decide which novel will be my first read of the new year because I’m very superstitious about my reading. Start the year with a great read, and the whole year will be filled with wonderful reading experiences.

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3 responses to “Let’s Read Fiction”

AcademicLurker

December 27, 2022

Absolutely. I’ve always read a lot, but I recently noticed that I had slipped into reading almost entirely nonfiction. I started reading novels again and it really does involve a different part of your brain.

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xykademiqz

December 27, 2022

Since I’ve amped up my fiction reading a few years ago, I’ve noticed I have very little patience for shows or movies. They just don’t hold my attention and I often reach for Twitter or email. Nothing is as immersive as a good book.

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1. methylethyl
  
  December 27, 2022
  
  I keep wondering if this is a function of age, or PTSD– I stopped watching movies and TV for years after the PTSD incident, because so consistently, there’d be some completely random unanticipated thing in there that would ruin my whole day and give me nightmares (and geez-oh-whiz real trauma is a great way to lose your taste for the artificial kind!) for a week. Now, I can watch movies, but find there’s almost nothing out there that’s worth sitting in front of a screen for that long. It seems so boring and pointless.
  
  So I think the PTSD was temporary, but now age is kicking in– I no longer have vast stretches of spare time to while away, and I have very little tolerance for things that take up my time, but don’t give me much in return. It’s annoying when actual people do it. It’s completely intolerable when a flickering screen does it.
  
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