Distractions!
Ah yes, distractions. The bane of the reader. The enemy of the bibliophile. The arch-nemesis of the bookworm! Finding time to read can be challenging. Staying focused on a book in this digital era can be nigh impossible.
When I was a youngster the internet didn’t exist. Smartphones? Please. I don’t think we owned a cordless phone until I was in high school. (Am I dating myself? Fine by me.) Reading time was quiet and easy. All I needed was a book and a space. My favorite spot was by the water. I’d grab a book, a towel, and a pair of sunglasses. It was nothing to spend a whole day on the dock reading my little heart out.
How times have changed! There were obvious adjustments – I became an adult with all of the complications that are involved in doing so. There are things I didn’t expect – my attention span has decreased as I’ve gotten deeper into my 40s. What a fun discovery that has been.
The distractions that get to me, in no particular order are:
- Phone – they are made to be addictive. I’m not immune to those little bursts of dopamine.
- Netflix (Hulu, CBS All Access, Prime) – Television is delightful. It’s another way to shove more stories into my head.
- Age – I mentioned my attention span above. Let me also warn you about how sore a body can become while hanging out in the same position for too long. Enjoy those young joints, kids.
- Interruptions – Another thing I’ve learned about aging is that it’s harder to get back to your book when you’ve been interrupted. If I’m asked a question it takes longer to get back into that good reading zone than it used to.
- Noises – Thank goodness for fans and/or white noise machines. If I don’t have something to block out ambient noise it’s all over.
I hope you’ll share some of your distractions with me in the comments! More importantly, I’d be thrilled if you’d post some of your solutions! Please?
The Relentless Reader 
Sometimes i think this is why I love audiobooks so much – they provide a great imagination interaction while I’m doing the tedious thing, and I can get through them without becoming distracted by other things.
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Yes! I listen while I do chores around the house. I listen while I cook. Two birds, one stone!
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I’m trying to be better about the manageable distractions, but I’m having trouble with age. Approximate conversation with my husband over the weekend:
Me: I used to do (thing), (thing) and (other thing). All in a week!
Him: The was twenty years ago, when you were twenty years younger.
Me: Curse your logic…
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Ha! We had nearly the same conversation recently. I’m enjoying the extra wisdom and attitude, but I could do without some of the other aging aspects 😉
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Giving myself dedicated times of day to read has been helpful to me. In the olden times, I took a bus to work, which meant that I reliably had twenty minutes of reading time before and after my work day. Now I am kind of struggling to replace that feeling, since I’m home all the time and no longer have the commute. I try to give myself a pretend commute — thirty minutes between doing my morning routine and starting my work day where I typically just sit in my comfy chair and read. It’s nice!
Oh, and I also started reading with dinner, rather than watching TV with dinner. It is amazing how much better it makes me feel.
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Uhmmm…America right now? The 24 hour news cycle- even though few things change that fast. If I’m at the computer, I’m clicking on CNN and NYT multiple times a day. Mostly in the hopes that the president is dead, but still.
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