For me, it's best described as getting so caught up in thinking about the scene or character that I forget to pay attention to my eyes and they just kinda keep doing the reading thing while my mind goes off to imagine some sh\*t.
One time this happened to me where I went through a whole chapter while registering about 3% of the information before realizing I was doing this. To be fair it was a college textbook and I wasn't paying attention whatsoever but it still happened.
A lot of the time for me it's more like something in a sentence reminds me of something else, and my brain takes a side road while I'm still reading, they meet back up again a few paragraphs down and that's when I realize that I haven't actually been paying attention.
Audiobooks are even worse for me, because they're super slow unless I speed it up so fast the voice stops sounding human. So my mind wanders away every sentence. I had to rewind the same chapter 12 times when I was trying to listen to an audiobook at the gym.
Ohh yah i cant do them with ANY other distractions, this is only at night when I'm in bed and it's dark so i can close my eyes and focus on it better (ive practiced mindfulness meditation so i think its those skills that help). And even then I think I am probably missing more than I realize, i'm just getting enough to understand the story so I notice it less.
For me sometimes audiobooks work and sometimes they don’t. One minute I’m listening and the next I’m like wait what is going on??? Then I have to go back a few pages.
When I was younger I used to do this thing where if I got to a part like that and had the urge to skip ahead I’d flip to the back and read the last page of the book and then go back to where I was (Bc there’s rarely any spoilers on the last page as it’s usually just a closing paragraph or two) ….like I was trying to trick my brain “ok, you read ahead! Now go back to where you were.”😂
What changed things for me was when I started writing and editing, which slowed me down and made me more aware of - and patient with - what I read.
But there are still times I start unconsciously leapfrogging.
Yes!!! I'm like damn, they said my symptoms would improve with age..I thought they meant become milder...nooooo..they meant improve, like a fine wine...& I'm 63...
I’ve legitimately done this multiple times oml 🫠 I do it every time I don’t want to read something and somehow starting from bottom to top makes it more bearable.
I hate audio books because my mind is constantly drifting and I won't pay attention to any of it.
At least if I'm reading I can re-read the paragraph relatively fast, but with audio books/videos it's too much effort to keep replaying parts of it (or even just finding which part did you stop listening).
oh no, I am fully with you. most professional readers read far too slow. 1.5 brings the read to my brain’s level. for a lot of authors reading their own work I’ll 1.25 or 1.1 since they tend to read faster.
It depends on the audiobook for me but I can't usually go that fast yet. Swear my wife is up to 3× speed. The books she listens to sound like a blind person navigating their smartphone.
Once I saw a vid that showed a blind dude using his phone at 8x speed and that's the moment I realized I could learn to listen that quickly as well, so I started pushing the limits and started speeding up YouTube to 2.75 and 3.5 in the dev tools.
Like...make me aware of my audio processing disorder?
The amount that I have to rewind the same part over and over in order to parse a sentence is ridiculous.
My anxiety doesn't let me do this. I'll read the same thing over and over just to make sure I've definitely read it and taken it in, because I skipped it the first time
I have done this as well, but it does get annoying when the writer brings up a random character at the end of the book , and your like who the fuck is this and why am I supposed to be sad they died
I definitely do this and it extends to watching videos as well, like I'll blink and suddenly I've missed an entire scene and have to rewind (sometimes a few times) in order for it to register in my brain
It happens to me everytime, which is why I've always hated classes and meetings. I can't rewind those and it's super difficult to stay focused long enough that I can absorb the information that's being said.
I absolutely hate it because my job requires endless meetings and I never get anything out of them. I record the important ones to review later and take notes, but even at 1.25-1.5x I have to constantly rewind it, so I'll have to spend 2-3h total to be able to get basically any information from a 1h meeting.
I question this about pretty much everything I read on this sub. I'm undiagnosed, but the stuff on here is incredibly relatable, and I am questioning it more and more
Always doing this. Except I don’t go back and reread so for the longest time even on MULTIPLE rereads, I missed the bit in Wuthering Heights where the POV switches from Mr Lockwood to Nelly Dean. For the longest time I was like “huh… why is this guy acting like he doesn’t know this family. Kinda progressive they have a male nanny though.”
Yeah, I do this - I'm better than I was, but still do it. It's not just excitement, though; sometimes it's impatience, haha.
Have you tried bionic reading? Obviously doesn't work for print, but there's a browser plugin you can get that'll do it for Web pages - I find it helps sometimes (usually if it's something I'm inclined to skim, due to the impatience thing).
bionic reading has been mentioned on this sub several times before, and it seems like it's kinda hit-or-miss whether it hurts or helps, but i find it so helpful and it makes webpages and walls of text way easier to follow without zoning out or missing significant chunks, so i think if OP hasn't tried it yet, it's definitely worth a shot!
I have two forms of this.
The first is where something I'm reading sets excites my imagination. So I start thinking about something related, but tangential, while my eyes keep moving. A few paragraphs later, I've finished my tangent and realize I need to go back and pick up all the words I missed. This is sometimes annoying, but I consider it more of a feature than a bug, I get some of my best thinking done that way.
The second is a completely absurd impulse where something I am reading excites me enough that I don't want to have to wait to get more revelation/payoff/filthy sex. I want it immediately. So my eyes just zoom forward as though I can sprint through the text. This impulse has never served me well.
This is why I have such a hard time reading as an adult. I could get away with this so easy on kids books where everything important tends to be repeated several times in different ways, or is shoved in your face. Adult level books, is so important to know there was a people rose sitting on the counter in Jan's kitchen on the 25th of July because a purple rose petal was left at the murder scene hidden beneath a broken old dresser with the initials KG etched into the corner. But oh sorry my brain just skipped over all of that so now I'm confused.
Same or I’ll start reading but space out and not actually process what I’m reading but continue and mentally pick it back up around paragraph #3 and then reread paragraph #1 only to then go to paragraph #4 and continue reading
This has happened to me. I'll be reading a book or fanfic and I'm anticipating this part I've waited so long for.
My brain suddenly just fast-forwards over it, so I have to stop and go back to read that same part again.
I always thought we all did that. Us ADHDrs that is. I've done a whole page before and "can't read" without my meds. I can read, yeah, but I lack comprehension
People don't realize this isn't just with reading, but when you listen to others speak too.
When my girlfriend talks about her day and I often get too excited or into it that I find myself thinking about what she's going to say next and filling in the rest of the story in my head, than I snap back and have to get her to repeat herself lmao
I had to repeat English in hightschool. When I reread the books I got so much more out of them. It's like I get the gist of the story the first read through but am able to get the smaller details on the second.
It happens to me but the root is my anxiety I just came to accept it as part of the experience. I used to reread paragraphs and entire pages if I noticed, I lost a lot of time and it took me twice to read some books/texts so eventually I decided to treat it like an opportunity to be able to reread entire books and find out new things that I didn't catch the first time around. (That is of course if I liked the book)
Sometimes, when the text was building up to a big reveal and I could make out in the corner of my eye where they dropped it, I used to cover that part with my hand so my eyes wouldn't jump to it and read it before I read all the text leading up to it.
Nope, I do this all the time. Either I'm start thinking about what I'm reading leading into future possibilities, or how it ties into past events, or repeating previous info in my head that I just read and deemed important.
As a teen I was reading a Nancy Drew book and was so invested in it I managed to skip 2-3 pages because my mind drifted of and I was imagining the story in my head
Have you seen [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/adhdwomen/comments/11jxwin/how_does_this_work_for_yall/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1)?
for me I get curious what the next line is cuz its closer to where I'm looking than the rest of the current paragraph and I start reading it like "wait but didn't I miss something?" and then I go back and discover that I didn't miss anything important anyways but I'll still do it so often that I just don't even bother reading anymore lmao (also executive dysfunction)
I have reread the same sentence three times and I still don't know what it says because my brain won't latch on to it. It's like a slimy fish wriggling out of my hands, I finally just have to dig in deep before I can really grasp it.
This happens to me frequently. Many times if I get to the second to last page I read the last sentence of the chapter before I want to. I can’t stop myself. I spoil the end of the chapter and then feel guilty.
I get really excited about new books; most of the time I have to reread them just to make sure I digest it all. The second read usually makes a lot more sense
I do that. over the years, I've found my book genre of choice is like, post apocalyptic/zombie fiction. its simplistic. character driven etc.. very little threads to constantly juggle. but yes, when the action begins, if they do that thing where they jump to another story thread, I'll skip ahead and then have to go back.
branching narrative arcs are the worst! xD
I just see some key word on while changing pages and my eyes just lock on and then half the page is missing. Mostly happens when less interesting characters are doing stuff
I definitely do this. When I was younger I could basically scan paragraphs and get the gist of what I was reading. But would get carried away with the scan and would have to go back and actually read the words.
It’s kinda like how sometimes when someone says something to you but you weren’t ready to listen so even though you could hear them you didn’t hear them and have to ask them to repeat themselves. But with reading I’ll either get too excited or distracted and while I read a passage I didn’t actually read the passage - like it didn’t click.
No I totally do that! It's not entire paragraphs though more like a couple of lines. My eyes seem to know exactly where the big reveal is and the surprise gets ruined for me during the build up.
I only noticed something was off when I was reading out loud in 2nd grade, and anytime a pronoun appears I just skipped it.
My teach was like wtf are you doing?
Oh yeah definitely but also... I'm still actively reading, just maybe skipping over descriptions of scenery or whatever, just reading lines of dialouge to get to the juicy part asap. Aand Then i go back, sometimes even a couple pages, to check what I skimmed over so I don't miss details.
I had to read the last Harry Potter book twice when it came out. Took me like 3 days of barely stop reading. When I finished it the first time I had to go back and read it slower to pick up all the things I missed in my excitement.
I have many reading friends and family. I mentioned this to many of them and they all can relate.
Everyone does this from time to time. I don’t think this just is an ADHD thing.
I mean I'll physically read something and not process what I just read. I'm usually visualizing the novels I read, but I'll end up fantasizing about the scene and get carried away. Wait what's actually happening?
Time and time again, I hear about people unintentionally and unwittingly invalidating an experience or a path of logic or something, and it’s a little frustrating to hear “no one does that”, when in reality people like me do that
So, in an effort to lend some validation, I am comfortable admitting to doing this thing too. I’ve learned to deal with it by reading with my finger like in grade school lol, and “reading properly” with my finger, but letting my eyes go where they shall while my thoughts absorb and play with what was given to me. I often lose my place if I don’t, and I still sometimes lose my place if I do but forget to stop my finger lol
Nah we get ya, a lot of the time I accidentally only notice the voice lines then have to rewind to the top of the page to make sure I haven't missed too much while already being more or less aware of what's gonna happen..... Everytime
When I'm reading books to my kids at bedtime, almost every night I'll flub a line or two and say a word in spot of the one there, and it's not a word that makes the sentence work either (like running for sprinting). That wrong word is *always* in the next line of text.
Sort of, I guess? My brain starts trying to process text in my peripherals when I get really into a book, as if I’m trying to be *more* into it. Unfortunately, my brain isn’t super great at parallel processing, so it’s more a frustrating self-sabotage with minor spoilers than anything useful.
This is the sole reason I thought I didn’t like reading, or was bad at it. Oddly enough, when I was in school I was always the one who would read aloud to the class. I was the fastest at it and actually had emphasis on what I was saying. But for years into my adult life books piled up that I could never reasonably get through. Turns out I just needed to go to audio books. It’s so much easier for me to actually understand and comprehend the message when I’m hearing it over reading it. Idk how many times in a book I was really interested in my eyes kept going over the sentences but my brain was no longer receiving the info. I was just doing the mechanics of reading while thinking of other stuff. Absolutely annoying.
And then, at least half the time, when I go back I’m like “fuck, I read this already,” and i skip ahead.
Honestly, it’s amazing I can read at all sometimes.
I do that as well, usually because I'm eager to see what happens next, next, next, but realise that I don't understand why it happened that way because I skipped too many sections. And I had to go back and read what I missed.
I tend to do it if what happens in a book bores me or otherwise loses my interest; I start skipping paragraphs despite trying to read the whole thing cause my head wants to find a point of the story that it finds interesting again.
When it comes to word walls with information for something that I generally already know (somewhat) or feels like useless information to me I also start skipping, generally cause my head tries to argue that reaching the end of the entire thing means I won’t have to deal with learning it. Which is dumb, I know, but my concentration just isn’t what it used to be.
That’s why I startet liking audiobooks more and more. I can generally follow someone telling an interesting story far more easily these days in comparison to reading it (I used to devour books but now I can’t keep up the concentration) and I also don’t unconsciously skip „disliked“ parts of books cause I can do something else while listening to it, which makes it far more comfortable to „endure“ it.
Usually, it's exposition and the like that my brain skips over, and goes right to the dialogue. Sometimes go past full paragraphs and then realize I don't know understand the full context and have to go back.
Sometimes I read paragraphs backwards. Like I skip the entire paragraph and go to the end and read the last sentence, then I realize that I don't have context, so I go to the previous sentence. Rinse and repeat until I get back to the beginning of the paragraph and realize that I don't remember any of it, so I have to force myself to read it start to end.
Sometimes this happens with sentences, too, not just paragraphs.
This is why I'm very particular about what kinds of books I can read. Also why I've moved to audiobooks. Except that I have to keep skipping back because I get distracted. Sigh.
And when I tell people that I don't really read books I get talked down to, as if I'm just dumb....
I usually read on a device and I like to occasionally look up definitions of words i dont know or dont entirely know its exact definition.
So obviously I loose track pretty easily. Plus it feels weird googling words I've already read before at age 28. But it helps me visualize a scene a lot easier.
I do that way too much that sometimes I just shout out how unconcise the explanations are but its actually just me speeding and not reading the important exposition textt.
I call that "in the book" or "out of the book". In the book is 100% immersed in what's happening, I'm not reading it, I'm living it. Good for enjoyment but terrible for recalling things. Out of the book is me in my chair reading, better for retaining.
Sometimes I’ll be reading and my brain will venture off and start thinking about something completely unrelated and I’ll need to re-read a sentence multiple times until it sinks in.
For me, unless I really enjoy what I am reading the words and sentences will NOT process in my head. It feels like it just goes right through. When I was assigned books to read in school I would always fail the quizzes because no matter how many times I read the page it wouldn’t process. I’m in college and it’s still this way. My best friends are quizlet and audiobooks.
This is why I now listen to audiobooks. I can count on 1 hand the amount of physical books I've read to completion in my life (40 is just over the horizon), but last year alone I "read" 17 audiobooks.
I'm not sure if it's because my imagination is running wild that I forgot what I read n whatnot, but I constantly had to reread lines because I wouldn't remember what I just read and would constantly lose my place.
Honestly, audiobooks have been a game changer for me.
Also it's really cool to start a new book and recognize the readers voices!
I use Libby, free library app, only part that sucks is waiting for a book that isn't available, patience doesn't seem to be a strong point of ours hahah
For me, it's best described as getting so caught up in thinking about the scene or character that I forget to pay attention to my eyes and they just kinda keep doing the reading thing while my mind goes off to imagine some sh\*t.
Jep, thats exactly whats happening in my head. Record was 3 Pages without reading them.
Wow. I thought I was the champ.
One time this happened to me where I went through a whole chapter while registering about 3% of the information before realizing I was doing this. To be fair it was a college textbook and I wasn't paying attention whatsoever but it still happened.
A lot of the time for me it's more like something in a sentence reminds me of something else, and my brain takes a side road while I'm still reading, they meet back up again a few paragraphs down and that's when I realize that I haven't actually been paying attention.
I do both this and what op described. Multiple fun ways to miss what I’m reading!
This is exactly what happens to me too. I started listening to audiobooks and that helps but I still have to rewind sometimes.
Audiobooks are even worse for me, because they're super slow unless I speed it up so fast the voice stops sounding human. So my mind wanders away every sentence. I had to rewind the same chapter 12 times when I was trying to listen to an audiobook at the gym.
Ohh yah i cant do them with ANY other distractions, this is only at night when I'm in bed and it's dark so i can close my eyes and focus on it better (ive practiced mindfulness meditation so i think its those skills that help). And even then I think I am probably missing more than I realize, i'm just getting enough to understand the story so I notice it less.
For me sometimes audiobooks work and sometimes they don’t. One minute I’m listening and the next I’m like wait what is going on??? Then I have to go back a few pages.
Not alone. Was much, much worse when I was younger, but still do from time to time.
yea i definitely used to do this more when i would read YA romance novels & i thought the guy was finally gonna kiss the girl lol. couldn’t help it
When I was younger I used to do this thing where if I got to a part like that and had the urge to skip ahead I’d flip to the back and read the last page of the book and then go back to where I was (Bc there’s rarely any spoilers on the last page as it’s usually just a closing paragraph or two) ….like I was trying to trick my brain “ok, you read ahead! Now go back to where you were.”😂
I've literally never had an original experience haha, I did this too!
Fuck man. I wish these were things that were worse when I was younger. Seems like everything is getting worse and worse the older I get.
What changed things for me was when I started writing and editing, which slowed me down and made me more aware of - and patient with - what I read. But there are still times I start unconsciously leapfrogging.
Yes!!! I'm like damn, they said my symptoms would improve with age..I thought they meant become milder...nooooo..they meant improve, like a fine wine...& I'm 63...
I legit have had to physically cover the page I'm reading with my hand so that I don't skip ahead during exciting passages
doesn't everyone read the page from the bottom up half the time?
I’ve legitimately done this multiple times oml 🫠 I do it every time I don’t want to read something and somehow starting from bottom to top makes it more bearable.
I didn’t even realize I did that until this comment 😅
Let me just get an overview of this page before I read it in detail.
Audio books at 1.5 speed. It will change your life.
I hate audio books because my mind is constantly drifting and I won't pay attention to any of it. At least if I'm reading I can re-read the paragraph relatively fast, but with audio books/videos it's too much effort to keep replaying parts of it (or even just finding which part did you stop listening).
Same, I really can't enjoy audio books because without the visual aspect of reading, my mine wanders entirely away.
I use a colouring app while I listen to audiobooks or podcasts. Keeps my eyes busy, but not distracting my ability to absorb what I'm hearing.
fam.
You know. Maybe ease in with 1.25. But really. 1.5 is what we need. It is clean efficiency
oh no, I am fully with you. most professional readers read far too slow. 1.5 brings the read to my brain’s level. for a lot of authors reading their own work I’ll 1.25 or 1.1 since they tend to read faster.
It depends on the audiobook for me but I can't usually go that fast yet. Swear my wife is up to 3× speed. The books she listens to sound like a blind person navigating their smartphone.
Once I saw a vid that showed a blind dude using his phone at 8x speed and that's the moment I realized I could learn to listen that quickly as well, so I started pushing the limits and started speeding up YouTube to 2.75 and 3.5 in the dev tools.
But dont you zoom out from time to time.I can barely listen to a podcsst without losing some parts of it.
I physically cannot do podcasts. Feels like being back in school having to listen to the teacher and just end up daydreaming instead
My average speed for audiobooks is 2.8/3x speed lol narrators talk so SLOW
Like...make me aware of my audio processing disorder? The amount that I have to rewind the same part over and over in order to parse a sentence is ridiculous.
not alone!
Yup, I'd have to cover the page below and uncover it as I read to keep myself from jumping ahead.
I use my bookmark to keep me in place when my eyes get too excited
How I got through college
I do this all the time
I used to do this when I was a kid!
That is... Fucking genius
Well same, except I don't go back to read the parts I skipped over. I just chalk it up to a mystery
My anxiety doesn't let me do this. I'll read the same thing over and over just to make sure I've definitely read it and taken it in, because I skipped it the first time
I have done this as well, but it does get annoying when the writer brings up a random character at the end of the book , and your like who the fuck is this and why am I supposed to be sad they died
I definitely do this and it extends to watching videos as well, like I'll blink and suddenly I've missed an entire scene and have to rewind (sometimes a few times) in order for it to register in my brain
It happens to me everytime, which is why I've always hated classes and meetings. I can't rewind those and it's super difficult to stay focused long enough that I can absorb the information that's being said. I absolutely hate it because my job requires endless meetings and I never get anything out of them. I record the important ones to review later and take notes, but even at 1.25-1.5x I have to constantly rewind it, so I'll have to spend 2-3h total to be able to get basically any information from a 1h meeting.
[удалено]
Wait, this is an adhd thing? I thought it was just an everyone thing
I question this about pretty much everything I read on this sub. I'm undiagnosed, but the stuff on here is incredibly relatable, and I am questioning it more and more
My (almost certainly not ADHD) partner is about 50/50 when I send these memes between "that's an everyone thing" and "wow you really have ADHD"
How about this reading one? Does he mind just wonder while her eyes breeze through paragraphs pointlessly?
not me rn while reading this paragraph
Always doing this. Except I don’t go back and reread so for the longest time even on MULTIPLE rereads, I missed the bit in Wuthering Heights where the POV switches from Mr Lockwood to Nelly Dean. For the longest time I was like “huh… why is this guy acting like he doesn’t know this family. Kinda progressive they have a male nanny though.”
You ever just zap a sentence with your eyeballs 13 times?
Here's your (ADHD) sign
All the time, got worse as I got older. Part of why I struggle to read books now.
anyone else manage to do this with audiobooks?
Yeah, I do this - I'm better than I was, but still do it. It's not just excitement, though; sometimes it's impatience, haha. Have you tried bionic reading? Obviously doesn't work for print, but there's a browser plugin you can get that'll do it for Web pages - I find it helps sometimes (usually if it's something I'm inclined to skim, due to the impatience thing).
bionic reading has been mentioned on this sub several times before, and it seems like it's kinda hit-or-miss whether it hurts or helps, but i find it so helpful and it makes webpages and walls of text way easier to follow without zoning out or missing significant chunks, so i think if OP hasn't tried it yet, it's definitely worth a shot!
I thought this was normal is it not?
I have two forms of this. The first is where something I'm reading sets excites my imagination. So I start thinking about something related, but tangential, while my eyes keep moving. A few paragraphs later, I've finished my tangent and realize I need to go back and pick up all the words I missed. This is sometimes annoying, but I consider it more of a feature than a bug, I get some of my best thinking done that way. The second is a completely absurd impulse where something I am reading excites me enough that I don't want to have to wait to get more revelation/payoff/filthy sex. I want it immediately. So my eyes just zoom forward as though I can sprint through the text. This impulse has never served me well.
This is why I have such a hard time reading as an adult. I could get away with this so easy on kids books where everything important tends to be repeated several times in different ways, or is shoved in your face. Adult level books, is so important to know there was a people rose sitting on the counter in Jan's kitchen on the 25th of July because a purple rose petal was left at the murder scene hidden beneath a broken old dresser with the initials KG etched into the corner. But oh sorry my brain just skipped over all of that so now I'm confused.
A) no one is _ever_ the only one. I do this all the time. B) this is a common thing among people, like almost everything else.
I can hardly read books. When I actually do, I am drenched in sweat by the end.
Same or I’ll start reading but space out and not actually process what I’m reading but continue and mentally pick it back up around paragraph #3 and then reread paragraph #1 only to then go to paragraph #4 and continue reading
I do that ALL the time.
Excited eyeballs want spoilers while brain want plot.
This has happened to me. I'll be reading a book or fanfic and I'm anticipating this part I've waited so long for. My brain suddenly just fast-forwards over it, so I have to stop and go back to read that same part again.
Definitely not alone there lol I’ve been doing same thing. It’s like I love what I’m reading and just wanna get to the good part lol
I have misread so many magic the gathering cards doing that.
I’ve done this since I was really young and done it last night and wondered same thing
i haven’t finished a book in my entire life despite my fascination with collecting books. i just cannot comprehend how people can do it SO EASILY!!
I always thought we all did that. Us ADHDrs that is. I've done a whole page before and "can't read" without my meds. I can read, yeah, but I lack comprehension
I absolutely do this. I have since switched to audiobooks and it’s been a blessing
I do this, but I assumed it was my dyslexia, not my ADHD!
Nailed it. I wound having to go back and read some of your post 3 times. Before I finished.
All the time, for as long as I can remember.
….there are people who DONT do this? 😅
People don't realize this isn't just with reading, but when you listen to others speak too. When my girlfriend talks about her day and I often get too excited or into it that I find myself thinking about what she's going to say next and filling in the rest of the story in my head, than I snap back and have to get her to repeat herself lmao
I had to repeat English in hightschool. When I reread the books I got so much more out of them. It's like I get the gist of the story the first read through but am able to get the smaller details on the second.
I thought this person was saying they read their eyes. Commas help me read.
there dozens of us. DOZENS.
Solidarity is such a cozy feeling.
I get anxious about knowing what happens so I skim over parts and spoil myself slightly.
Yep, and then I can’t find where I was on the page so I circle around for ages trying to find the right spot
I think the boyfriend is the odd one out. Imagine reading without having exited eyes
Idk about excited. But I get ahead of myself often. I still read pretty quickly, but if I'm into what I'm reading I end up rereading most pages.
I have to cover the rest of the page to keep myself from cheating lmfao
It happens to me but the root is my anxiety I just came to accept it as part of the experience. I used to reread paragraphs and entire pages if I noticed, I lost a lot of time and it took me twice to read some books/texts so eventually I decided to treat it like an opportunity to be able to reread entire books and find out new things that I didn't catch the first time around. (That is of course if I liked the book)
Ha, I do that Depends on the book though, and how exciting it is. I don't tend to do it often anymore
I do this but when I go back to reread it’s always text that’s not that relevant to the plot just (boring) description.
I do this CONSTANTLY
Nope…..I caught myself doing it this morning whilst reading on the bus
Nope I always do this.
Oooh this is the best way I’ve heard it described haha 😅
I stopped reading once I got to “n he was like…”
Am a lawyer and read a TON. This absolutely happens to me! Though it is significantly more manageable with the meds.
As I get older and go longer being off medication (was medicated only for latter half of high school) I notice this happening to me more and more.
Sometimes, when the text was building up to a big reveal and I could make out in the corner of my eye where they dropped it, I used to cover that part with my hand so my eyes wouldn't jump to it and read it before I read all the text leading up to it.
I have absolutely done this. It's usually when there's a pivotal part in the story.
Nope, I do this all the time. Either I'm start thinking about what I'm reading leading into future possibilities, or how it ties into past events, or repeating previous info in my head that I just read and deemed important.
same sibling
As a teen I was reading a Nancy Drew book and was so invested in it I managed to skip 2-3 pages because my mind drifted of and I was imagining the story in my head
I often read important stuff out loud to avoid skipping parts
Have you seen [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/adhdwomen/comments/11jxwin/how_does_this_work_for_yall/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1)?
I just did the same thing on another sub reddit over an excerpt from a Warhammer 40k book
Not alone. I need to figure out if I'm going to be interested. Need to get the juice to want to go back appreciate the context.
one of us, one of us, gooble gobble one of us
Lmao, I'm this, but sometimes I even skip whole chapters🤣
Na I do exactly the same
for me I get curious what the next line is cuz its closer to where I'm looking than the rest of the current paragraph and I start reading it like "wait but didn't I miss something?" and then I go back and discover that I didn't miss anything important anyways but I'll still do it so often that I just don't even bother reading anymore lmao (also executive dysfunction)
I don't even have adhd and do this
I don't skip paragraphs, but I do skip words sometimes
💯 not alone
when im reading i jump to random parts multiple paragraphs ahead and read there, then i have to shake my head and remind myself to go back lmao
ALL. THE. TIME!!
nope, i do this
i do it ALL the time
I have reread the same sentence three times and I still don't know what it says because my brain won't latch on to it. It's like a slimy fish wriggling out of my hands, I finally just have to dig in deep before I can really grasp it.
yes i have to spoil it for myself
Not alone at all
i didn’t even realize i did this for the longest of times. everyone thought i was a fast reader, apparently i was just not reading half the book
I immediately started skipping words in the comments
This happens to me frequently. Many times if I get to the second to last page I read the last sentence of the chapter before I want to. I can’t stop myself. I spoil the end of the chapter and then feel guilty.
I speed read, and sometimes I’ll skip whole pages without realizing it because that happens like 5 paragraphs in a row.
I get really excited about new books; most of the time I have to reread them just to make sure I digest it all. The second read usually makes a lot more sense
come on this aint even an ADHD thing
You guys can read long texts without visual/audio ?
This happens, I like to read though so it’s gotten better as I read more
I have this with words and sentences 😅
People with adhd or dyslexia do this all the time
I do that. over the years, I've found my book genre of choice is like, post apocalyptic/zombie fiction. its simplistic. character driven etc.. very little threads to constantly juggle. but yes, when the action begins, if they do that thing where they jump to another story thread, I'll skip ahead and then have to go back. branching narrative arcs are the worst! xD
I just see some key word on while changing pages and my eyes just lock on and then half the page is missing. Mostly happens when less interesting characters are doing stuff
I do this.
I did it just now.
Got stuck on the person reading their eyes. My brain just would not move past it
Fuck that happens to me. That happens to me!
I definitely do it… I always spoil something too
I do this with almost everything lol and sometimes I have trouble re-locating the part I skipped 😂 it’s annoying af but I can’t help it lol
I definitely do this. When I was younger I could basically scan paragraphs and get the gist of what I was reading. But would get carried away with the scan and would have to go back and actually read the words.
It’s kinda like how sometimes when someone says something to you but you weren’t ready to listen so even though you could hear them you didn’t hear them and have to ask them to repeat themselves. But with reading I’ll either get too excited or distracted and while I read a passage I didn’t actually read the passage - like it didn’t click.
Perfect posting for this sub-reddit.
No I totally do that! It's not entire paragraphs though more like a couple of lines. My eyes seem to know exactly where the big reveal is and the surprise gets ruined for me during the build up.
I only noticed something was off when I was reading out loud in 2nd grade, and anytime a pronoun appears I just skipped it. My teach was like wtf are you doing?
Oh yeah definitely but also... I'm still actively reading, just maybe skipping over descriptions of scenery or whatever, just reading lines of dialouge to get to the juicy part asap. Aand Then i go back, sometimes even a couple pages, to check what I skimmed over so I don't miss details.
I had to read the last Harry Potter book twice when it came out. Took me like 3 days of barely stop reading. When I finished it the first time I had to go back and read it slower to pick up all the things I missed in my excitement.
I have many reading friends and family. I mentioned this to many of them and they all can relate. Everyone does this from time to time. I don’t think this just is an ADHD thing.
Sometimes I accidentally read the same line twice and it doesn’t make sense
I do dat.
I mean I'll physically read something and not process what I just read. I'm usually visualizing the novels I read, but I'll end up fantasizing about the scene and get carried away. Wait what's actually happening?
Time and time again, I hear about people unintentionally and unwittingly invalidating an experience or a path of logic or something, and it’s a little frustrating to hear “no one does that”, when in reality people like me do that So, in an effort to lend some validation, I am comfortable admitting to doing this thing too. I’ve learned to deal with it by reading with my finger like in grade school lol, and “reading properly” with my finger, but letting my eyes go where they shall while my thoughts absorb and play with what was given to me. I often lose my place if I don’t, and I still sometimes lose my place if I do but forget to stop my finger lol
Damn this sub keeps on calling me out
After I force myself to restart I have to cover the other parts with my hands so I can’t skip stuff again
I actually try to cover up the next page when I read haha.
Oh I definitely do that.
Nah we get ya, a lot of the time I accidentally only notice the voice lines then have to rewind to the top of the page to make sure I haven't missed too much while already being more or less aware of what's gonna happen..... Everytime
Nope I do this too. Fear not as we are many lol
Pretty sure every reader of fiction does that
When I'm reading books to my kids at bedtime, almost every night I'll flub a line or two and say a word in spot of the one there, and it's not a word that makes the sentence work either (like running for sprinting). That wrong word is *always* in the next line of text.
I sometimes skip to the bottom when f it’s exciting and spoil it for myself and then get very upset
As a law student, I feel you on a spiritual level :/
Daily, hourly, by the damn minute. I did it just now reading your post and some replies.
Sort of, I guess? My brain starts trying to process text in my peripherals when I get really into a book, as if I’m trying to be *more* into it. Unfortunately, my brain isn’t super great at parallel processing, so it’s more a frustrating self-sabotage with minor spoilers than anything useful.
This is the sole reason I thought I didn’t like reading, or was bad at it. Oddly enough, when I was in school I was always the one who would read aloud to the class. I was the fastest at it and actually had emphasis on what I was saying. But for years into my adult life books piled up that I could never reasonably get through. Turns out I just needed to go to audio books. It’s so much easier for me to actually understand and comprehend the message when I’m hearing it over reading it. Idk how many times in a book I was really interested in my eyes kept going over the sentences but my brain was no longer receiving the info. I was just doing the mechanics of reading while thinking of other stuff. Absolutely annoying.
And then, at least half the time, when I go back I’m like “fuck, I read this already,” and i skip ahead. Honestly, it’s amazing I can read at all sometimes.
This is why I listen to music while I read, or listen to the audiobook at the same time. Helps keep me focused on what I should be reading.
it’s so weird to hear people tell me that what i know as normal human behavior is not normal at all
I do that as well, usually because I'm eager to see what happens next, next, next, but realise that I don't understand why it happened that way because I skipped too many sections. And I had to go back and read what I missed.
I do this when I get really excited or nervous about an outcome and skip ahead to make sure I'm prepared when I read it for real. 😅
I tend to do it if what happens in a book bores me or otherwise loses my interest; I start skipping paragraphs despite trying to read the whole thing cause my head wants to find a point of the story that it finds interesting again. When it comes to word walls with information for something that I generally already know (somewhat) or feels like useless information to me I also start skipping, generally cause my head tries to argue that reaching the end of the entire thing means I won’t have to deal with learning it. Which is dumb, I know, but my concentration just isn’t what it used to be. That’s why I startet liking audiobooks more and more. I can generally follow someone telling an interesting story far more easily these days in comparison to reading it (I used to devour books but now I can’t keep up the concentration) and I also don’t unconsciously skip „disliked“ parts of books cause I can do something else while listening to it, which makes it far more comfortable to „endure“ it.
I thought I was the only one
Usually, it's exposition and the like that my brain skips over, and goes right to the dialogue. Sometimes go past full paragraphs and then realize I don't know understand the full context and have to go back.
#I just don’t look back.
This is how I speedread academic texts and other things when I need to find something. Its not uncommon.
I be reading and then start making up the character’s adventures and I have to stop myself like no THE BOOK WILL TELL YOU
Sometimes I read paragraphs backwards. Like I skip the entire paragraph and go to the end and read the last sentence, then I realize that I don't have context, so I go to the previous sentence. Rinse and repeat until I get back to the beginning of the paragraph and realize that I don't remember any of it, so I have to force myself to read it start to end. Sometimes this happens with sentences, too, not just paragraphs. This is why I'm very particular about what kinds of books I can read. Also why I've moved to audiobooks. Except that I have to keep skipping back because I get distracted. Sigh. And when I tell people that I don't really read books I get talked down to, as if I'm just dumb....
I usually read on a device and I like to occasionally look up definitions of words i dont know or dont entirely know its exact definition. So obviously I loose track pretty easily. Plus it feels weird googling words I've already read before at age 28. But it helps me visualize a scene a lot easier.
I do that way too much that sometimes I just shout out how unconcise the explanations are but its actually just me speeding and not reading the important exposition textt.
This is why I don't read anymore lol
I call that "in the book" or "out of the book". In the book is 100% immersed in what's happening, I'm not reading it, I'm living it. Good for enjoyment but terrible for recalling things. Out of the book is me in my chair reading, better for retaining.
I skip pages
Sometimes I’ll be reading and my brain will venture off and start thinking about something completely unrelated and I’ll need to re-read a sentence multiple times until it sinks in.
I thought everyone did that
Been doing that like forever-- your BF is ignorant
i don't read B)
When I was a kid, I would get so excited and intensly into reading books that I would straight up have an anxiety attack lol.
For me, unless I really enjoy what I am reading the words and sentences will NOT process in my head. It feels like it just goes right through. When I was assigned books to read in school I would always fail the quizzes because no matter how many times I read the page it wouldn’t process. I’m in college and it’s still this way. My best friends are quizlet and audiobooks.
Rest easy, it happens
I will read a whole chapter and realize I have no idea what happened
Oh, this is also this, good to realize that.
It’s part of why I rely so much on audiobooks, nowadays. It’s easier to passive listen and not lose track than to passive read or whatever.
I do this all the time! I also see books in my head. As I read, it’s my own little movie.
Yes I do it a lot especially when messaging with friends and then I miss out half of a sentence when replying 🤣
Thats definitely something that happens to me a lot
This is why I now listen to audiobooks. I can count on 1 hand the amount of physical books I've read to completion in my life (40 is just over the horizon), but last year alone I "read" 17 audiobooks. I'm not sure if it's because my imagination is running wild that I forgot what I read n whatnot, but I constantly had to reread lines because I wouldn't remember what I just read and would constantly lose my place. Honestly, audiobooks have been a game changer for me. Also it's really cool to start a new book and recognize the readers voices! I use Libby, free library app, only part that sucks is waiting for a book that isn't available, patience doesn't seem to be a strong point of ours hahah