Why You Stopped Reading  ## Metadata - Author: [[Answer in Progress]] - Full Title: Why You Stopped Reading - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: - #reading - #habits - #attention Author: Answer in Progress (YouTube Creator) Source: YouTube Video – *Why You Stopped Reading* Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyUVgcsjp8s date created: 2025-08-23 19:10 --- # Title: Why You Stopped Reading (and How to Start Again) ## Table of Contents: - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📖 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-belonging-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🔍 DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) --- ## 📝 Summary: The video explores why once-avid readers lose the habit of reading and how to rekindle it. Reasons include lack of time, depleted energy, lack of practice, and misaligned book choices. The creator ran a “five books in five days” experiment using treatments like rewards, silence, punishment, and audiobooks. Key findings: narratives immerse readers faster, audiobooks paired with text increase comprehension, gamification motivates, and reading’s slow pace is its feature—an intentional act of self-preservation. --- ## 📖 Main Content: Reading decline is traced to busier lives, competing media like TV/phones, and reduced focus stamina. Reading demands energy because it’s not hardwired like speech. Without practice, readers lose endurance, making dense texts daunting. Picking the wrong books (misaligned with motivation) worsens frustration. The experiment tested: - **Control (no structure)**: struggled with time. - **Reward (pizza party)**: motivation worked when tied to external goals. - **Silence (cone of isolation)**: revealed phone dependency. - **Punishment (wall sits)**: negative reinforcement increased determination. - **Audiobooks + text**: fastest and most immersive method. - **Gamification (challenge itself)**: added clout as motivation. Result: Reading reconnected creator with self-care, intentional time, and immersion. The slow pace is not a bug but a feature. --- ### 🗒️ Notes - **Reading decline** - Declining since 1980s (TV, digital distractions). - Survey data: adults lament loss of leisure reading. - **Why people stop** - Time constraints (work, errands, responsibilities). - Energy depletion (stress, mental illness, exhaustion). - Practice decay (attention span weakens without training). - Wrong book choice (motivation misaligned). - **Experiment framework** - Five treatments: vibe, reward, silence, punishment, audiobooks. - Bonus: gamification. - **Findings** - Narratives → immersive, distract less. - Audiobooks + reading → most effective. - Challenges work → gamification builds short-term motivation. - Accept slowness → reading forces boundaries & self-time. - **Big insight** - Reading is not about efficiency; it’s about carving intentional space for yourself. --- ## 📖 References: - Dutch survey on reading vs TV (1950s–1990s). - 2016 audiobook comprehension study. - 2021 gamification study. - Books mentioned: *Mutual Aid* (Dean Spade), *Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency* (Douglas Adams), *Moonwalking with Einstein* (Joshua Foer), *Why Fish Don’t Exist* (Lulu Miller), *An Absolutely Remarkable Thing* (Hank Green). --- ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. Original: “Reading is slow but can be a personal escape. At first, I hated that, but now I realize the bug is a feature.” Paraphrase: *Reading’s deliberate pace isn’t a flaw—it’s the essence. Instead of rushing, it forces presence and grants escape by carving out uninterrupted time.* 2. Original: “Not reading regularly can result in impaired concentration. Attempting to tackle a text outside of your ability could be frustrating.” Paraphrase: *Without routine practice, focus weakens. Diving into complex texts too soon can discourage progress, so easing back in with simpler stories helps.* --- ## 📰 Newsletter: 📚 **Why You Might Have Stopped Reading (and How to Start Again)** Remember when you could devour a book in a day? For many of us, that feels like a distant memory. A recent video experiment tackled the big question: why did we stop reading? Turns out, the culprits are predictable—time crunch, low energy, loss of practice, and sometimes just picking the wrong books. But there’s hope: audiobooks synced with text boost comprehension, narrative-driven books keep us hooked, and gamified challenges (like reading five books in five days) spark momentum. Most importantly, reading is slow—and that’s the point. It creates intentional boundaries, a pause button for life’s chaos, and space just for you. Want to revive your reading habit? Start small, pick stories that align with your “why,” and embrace the slowness. Because the real joy of reading isn’t speed—it’s escape. 👉 Watch the full experiment here: [Why You Stopped Reading](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyUVgcsjp8s) --- ## ✅ Action Items: - Connect the reading challenges concept to **WordPress contributor onboarding**—gamification motivates sustained engagement. - Frame reading time as analogous to **contributor time boundaries**—slow, intentional, and protected. - Integrate audiobook-text pairing as a metaphor for **multimodal learning in open-source training**. - Use findings to strengthen advocacy for **OSPO director role**: supporting community contributors requires intentional space, not efficiency obsession. - Apply to **educational efforts**: emphasize narratives and stories in WordPress training to immerse new contributors. --- ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - H1: Gamification increases contributor engagement in open-source communities as it does in reading. - H2: Narrative-driven training materials improve retention compared to technical-only content. - H3: Audio + visual hybrid formats improve accessibility and comprehension across diverse contributors. ### 📊 Methodology: - Mixed-method study: quantitative (time-to-task completion, retention rates) + qualitative (interviews on contributor motivation). - Data sources: WordPress training logs, survey responses, GitHub/Slack contribution activity. ### ❓ Questions: - What “wrong books” equivalents exist in onboarding (wrong first issues/tasks)? - Can gamified contributor challenges reduce burnout? - How do narratives in documentation increase inclusivity? ### 🔮 Future Research: - Longitudinal study: compare contributors trained via narrative vs technical docs. - Explore whether audiobook-style training (podcasts, narration) expands reach. ### 💡 Implications: - Could reshape contributor education, improving inclusivity. - Supports OSPO goals: retention, engagement, sustainability. - Influences policy on how open-source orgs design training material. --- ## 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment: - **Visual**: Minimal visuals; suggest infographics on “why people stop reading.” - **Aural**: Audio/video format helps; adding transcripts improves inclusivity. - **Verbal**: Storytelling present; could add analogies for depth. - **Kinesthetic**: Lacks hands-on tasks; could suggest “reading sprints.” - **Logical**: References studies, but could expand with structured frameworks. - **Social**: Audience engagement via YouTube comments; could add peer reading clubs. - **Solitary**: Reflection encouraged; could add journaling prompts. - **Naturalistic**: No environmental tie-ins; missed opportunity for outdoor reading analogies. --- ## 📊 Accessibility Assessment: - Transcript provided (good for screen readers). - No alt text since visuals are limited. - Contrast/readability good in video, but captions could be improved for clarity. - Suggest: interactive transcript navigation + optional audio-only version. --- ## 🌍 DEIB - Summary: In this video, the narrator explores why they have stopped reading books and their attempts to start reading again. They conduct a five-day reading challenge where they try to read five books in five days. The narrator discusses various treatments they try, such as setting reading goals, using audio books, and incorporating gamification. Throughout the challenge, they document their struggles and distractions, but ultimately manage to finish three books in three days. Despite the difficulties, they express a desire to reconnect with the joy of reading and continue their reading journey. - URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyUVgcsjp8s&feature=youtu.be - I think I forgot how to read,when I was a kid I could read a book in a day.Now I can barely get through a page.To fix that, I tried to read five books in five days.It's like somebody is just reading to me.I Know I should've seen this coming.Am I broken?Let me explain.Thank you to Fabulous for sponsoringa portion of this video.Hey there, so you might be under the impressionthat I'm some sort of avid reader,look at how I dress.I hate to brag, but Joe from "You" might wanna murder me.- Hello there- But every time I try to read a book for pleasure,I get through about one paragraph before the narcissism kicks in.Am I better than everyone?Am I an intellectual?It just sucks because I used to read a lot,but for some reason I just can't get through them.And I miss that.I miss the feeling of getting lost in a story.So today in this video,you and I are going to figure outwhy bookworms stopped readingand hopefully how to start again.I started my research trying to figure out if anyone else felt this way.After scouring survey data, polls, forums, and articles.I found that not only were prior readerslamenting the loss of the hobby in adulthood,or after traumatic incidents,but found that leisure reading as a whole is on the decline.So this decline has been around since like the 1980sand according to this Dutch surveythat took place from the 50's to the 90's.It's been about for longerthan that because of TV I guess,TV goes way up, reading goes marginally down. TV really did kill the literary star. Gross.Now some articles are trying to framethis decline as the end of humanity.Like, oh no, what if we stop writing things down?I don't think it's that serious.Reading is great, it can train your cognitive abilityand it can improve your empathy.But if it makes you miserable,there are other options.Not everyone needs to read for leisure.However, this video is for people who used to enjoy readingand are now wondering why that's in the past tense. So why?There are probably four reasons why you stopped reading.One, you don't have the time.Generally the younger you are,the more flexibility you have in your schedule.Once work errands and responsibilities become the norm.And you don't intentionally account for reading.You'll likely be unable to find the time.At least until you remove something else from your schedule.Two, you don't have the energy.Reading is surprisingly complex. Since we aren't born with brain circuitrydedicated to it like we do for breathing or moving.When we look at a page we see shapes,those shapes are matched to their meaningcombined to form words,connected to our experiences and knowledge,until we eventually extract understanding from the text.This requires a level of concentrationthat can be difficult to maintain after a long day,or if you're struggling with thingslinked to focus impairment like mental illness or stress.Three, you don't have the practice. If you haven't read in a while,you might not be used to concentratingfor long periods of time or grappling with dense writing.Attempting to tackle a text outside of your current abilitycould be frustrating and make reading feel impossiblecompared to shorter or simpler storiesthat can ease you back into the habit.Finally four, you're reading the wrong books.There are three common motives for reading,evolution, education and escape.Book subjects usually complement at least one of these motives.So the next time you wanna read ask yourself,why and make sure the book meets your motive.So those were just a few reasonsfor why you might've stopped reading.Now, I think they all kind of apply to me in some way.I have this really bad habitof letting work consume everything.So even when I have time for reading,I'm usually just reading for work.Also to be entirely honest,my fiction reading ability has never really progressedpast my "Percy Jackson and The Olympians" phase. Hold on, got it.I tried reading adult fiction last year.The complexity and depth of the characterswas honestly confusing.Anyway, now that we know our problem,how do we solve it?Well, that means it's time for a garbage experimentwith sample size one.Look at this production value.I'm staring straight into it.It's very bright.Here's the question, right?Oh, I need to be in the light. Over here? There we go.Can I, a former gifted kidwho read the entire Eragon books series in four days, now read five books in five days.Hypothesis? No.I know y'all are used to me biting off more than I can chew,but I really don't know if I can do this.Anyway we're gonna see how this hypothesisis impacted by the following treatments.Number one, no treatment! It's a control.For day one I'm just gonna read when I feel like reading.No pressure, no external force, only vibe.Treatment number two, reward! If I finish a book on day two, I'm gonna treat myself to a pizza party.Look at this ethnically diverse group of young people.Having fun with some pizza,that could be me.Treatment number three, shhhh!This is the cone of silence day.I'm gonna turn off all my devices, no meetings,no responsibilities, only book.Hopefully, I don't know, life gets in the way sometimes.Treatment number four, punishment,huh, you like that?You like that visual gag?I'm not going to be reading "Crime and Punishment". Russian literature scares me.I'm going to set reading goals.And then if I fail to meet those reading goalsthroughout the day,I will need to wall sit.Can you see that?Finally, treatment number five, audio books.So there's this commonly cited 2016 studythat found that there was no discernible differencein comprehension between an audio book and reading a book.However other studies have found that audio bookskind of encourage multitaskingwhich does impair comprehension.Neither of those things matter to me though, because when I hear things,only hear things don't know where it goes.University lectures were brutal.So anyway, I'm gonna listen to the audio bookwhile reading the book.So it kind of becomes like captions for the audio book,really reverse engineered reading there.Surprise, there's a bonus treatment.So there's this 2021 study that found that gamificationcan improve people's reading outcomes,based on certain circumstances that I think apply to me,look a citation.Anyway, this whole experiment kind of qualifies as gamification,in the sense that the reward is clout.Like, comment, subscribe.Now you might be wondering, what books?I'm a strong believer in trying out booksand giving up on them. If they're not enjoyable,except when you're doing a five booksin five days challenge.So I'm going to be picking books of reasonable lengththat come to me highly recommended.I will reveal them at the beginning of each day,encouraging you all to keep watching this video,really lost the energy at some point in this presentation. All right, I think that's everything,let's go to day one.Okay, so it is 9:47 on day oneand we are reading "Mutual Aid" by Dean Spade.I've been awake for a while.I had every intent on waking up earlyand getting an hour of reading in,except I started answering emails,and then it was now.Anyway, during the past few years,I've been feeling really helpless and disillusioned,but I'm kind of tired of wallowing.So I wanted to start educating myselfon how to actually do something.Let's start reading. (upbeat music)I'm a bit of a ways through the book now,it's a fast read,but yeah, it's good.I'm not a book reviewer.I do find myself pausing a lot while readingand just thinking, I'm reading.But yeah, it doesn't look likeI have too much more work to do today.So hopefully I'll get a good few hoursin to... to get through this.Well, I was wrong. Almost immediatelyafter I said that I started to do work,and didn't stop until the evening.It happen again, I finished lunchand I thought that, hey, I'll get some readingdone after lunch. Then I opened my emails,I need to read.Eventually though, my inbox slowed down.I shut off my computer and - Let's read.The book was small enough that I could just power through.I feel like such an adult.Oh, (beep), and eventually done good book.It took me about four hours to get through that,which was difficult to find in a work day.I don't feel like an extreme sense of achievement.Finishing a nonfiction bookis kind of just like, "I've done my homework now!"But tomorrow I'm reading fictionso maybe things will be different. It is 8:42 on day two.And today we are reading,"Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" by Douglas Adams.This is a copy I received from a friendwho found it in a used bookstore,because I kept saying I can't find it anywhere.So she mailed it to me with fun decorations years ago,and then I never read it,'cause I'm a good friend.The treatment for the days is the reward system.So if I can finish this,I'm gonna throw myself a pizza party.I will say I kind of cheated,'cause I picked it up last night and got a good chunk of the way through the book.My first meeting of the day is in 15 minutes.So that's 15 minutes of reading time.Let's do this.(upbeat music)(cat meows)Hello, how are you?So I finished most of my morning calls.Why did I think that I could read five books in five dayswhile also just working every day?This was a bad idea.You know what's better than reading legal agreements, reading book.(keyboard typing) (upbeat music)Finished my morning work,I'm making lunch.Is it a good thing,that the only time they seem to be ableto find myself able to read during the dayis when I need to eat as well.I don't know.I'm not here to critically analyze my own life.I'm here to read a book.I know I should've seen this coming.Why did I think that work would just be able to vanishsuddenly because I needed to read now. I have to eat,but then after that I have the rest of the day to read,I think. At the start of the day,I was like, "Oh, who really needs a pizza party?"But now it's the principle of the thing.And now I kind of,I'm driven now.Pizza party is not obviously happening today.I need to finish the dayand then I might have a pizza party tomorrow.If I finish this book.It is 5:33, I just wrapped up my work dayand I got basically no reading done throughout it.Maybe like three pages over lunch.I spent way too much time on TikTok. It's 7:34, still got this much book left.It's been a while since I read fiction.So it was tricky to get started.I found myself easily distracted by my phone or my cat.But as I got deeper into the book,the world around me started to fall awayand I was in Douglas Adams, absurd little fantasy.By the time I finished four hours had passed,and I hadn't looked at my phone once.It is 11:19 PM, I am done, this book really waits until the last 10 pagesto make sense, but it's good.It's whack, but it's good.Pizza?All right, so it's day three.I have cleared out my inbox.I don't have anything really pressing to do today.So I'm going to be trying to read,"Moonwalking with Einstein" by Joshua Foertoday! In a cone of silence!So that means no phone, no watch, no computer, no laptop, no tablet.I have a screen time problem.I think that the idea of not using my phone all dayis stressing me out more than trying to read this book.Let's do it.As a decent non-fiction reader with a bunch of free time.I expected this day to be the easiest. It wasn't.It's a good book I'm 30 pages in, but I wanna use my phone.I miss my phone.I have a problem,but is it a problem if I don't really wanna solve it?The change in routine threw me off. And I found myself wanting to use my phone.If only because I wasn't allowed to.I tried to isolate myself in bed,but immediately fell asleep.I think I was just craving some sort of distraction.So I didn't have to read and only read.I broke the cone of silence.I did about 10 minutes of workand I'm gonna go back to reading,and I haven't been more excited to readthan this moment today,Am I Broken?As a last ditch effort,I started pacing and it worked. It's 8:30 PM, I am seven hours and 200 pages into this book.I wish that I was doing literally anything else.It's a good book, don't don't get me wrong.It's a good book, it's just all I've been doing today.I'm done.Yeah, I really got into the zone there at the end.I just paced this one hallway for two hours and done.I finished the book.Got a little weird there at the end.It's three books in three days.Okay, I'm tired and I wanna use my phone now, bye. All right, so it is day fourand it is way later than it should be.Today, we are going to desperately tryand read "Why Fish Don't Exist" by Lulu Miller.Really looking forward to this one.It's just that I woke up late.I got up late.I had a call this morning,tried to read during that call.- She is reading during our life update.- Are you reading?- This book is neatly divided into 10 sectionsof approximately equal length. I'm supposed to be about this far in at this point.I'm this far in, I'm no far in,and I'm really bummed about that because it is exercise day.Which means that before I even open the book,I need to do a wall sit until I can't stand,let's do that.Well, thanking Fabulousfor sponsoring this portion of the video.I'm already struggling.Fabulous is an app to help youbuild healthy habits that stick.I'm always a little wary of services like this. But what I like about Fabulous,is that it actively encourages you to go at your own pace.Like when new year's comes around,it can be really tempting to make radical life shifts,like reading five books in five days,and then doing a wall sit because you slept in,because you burnt out,but there's no shortcut to changing habits.It's all about making little habits stickand that's made easier with Fabulous.We gotta cut to a different shotbecause my legs are giving out.Whether you're looking to take a journeywith step-by-step programming to build a foundation, or you just need short-term challenges to motivate yourselfand keep you focused,Fabulous bases their approach on behavioral science.To make it work for you and me and Taha,who was very proud to finally maintain a routineand wanted me to share this with you.So start building your ideal daily routine today.The first 500 people who click the link in the descriptionwill get 25% off a Fabulous subscription.It unlocks all the journeys and exercises on the app,and backs up and restores your progressif anything goes wrong,like my legs, click that link. Nailed it.All right, with those walls sits out of the way.It is currently 5:00 PM and I need to start this bookoriginally, it was split into 10 partsthat I could read every hour.There are no longer enough hours in the day.So I reduced the number of partsI'm in the hallway that solved all of my problems yesterday.I'm gonna pace and read and hope for the best.I never wanna do another wall sit again.(upbeat music)I made it through this day by just pure drive and power. I didn't wanna subject myself to more wall sitsand I didn't wanna subject you allto me being pathetically out of shape on the internet.It didn't hurt that the book was also very good.Done, my cat is walking in the background.I can't believe I did it,but I finished this book in like four hours.One great no wall sits.Two good book.If you like Answer in Progress videos,you'll like this. Four books in four days!Who am I?Let's go.So it is the last day. Today we are reading "An Absolutely Remarkable Thing"by Hank Green.You might notice that this is an advanced reader copy,and that's because Hank was kind enough to send me a copy.Before this book was released in September, 2018.He has since written and published the sequel.There's even a lovely little inscription that goes,I hope if you have time, you read this,I have time... four years and a global pandemic later,I'll be listening to the audio bookwhile looking at the pages. Does it count as reading if I'm doing this?I just rented the audio book on Libby.If your local library is on Libby use Libby,it's fantastic.Anyway, let's get reading.(upbeat music)So I'm about an hour into the book now,and it's getting good.And the way I can tell besides the obviousis the fact that my eyes and my ears sometimes disconnect.Like I find myself reading ahead of the audio bookand then getting confused.Like I swear, I just heard that I get déjà vu. So now I'm just starting to increase the pace of the audio.So now I'm at 1.85 times speed.Might go even faster who knows.It's a good book.I should really get to book reviews. Every day.Good book, that's all I can say.I just realized that today and day threeare weirdly similar.I don't have that many meetings.I don't have that much work.And I'm able to dedicate just a lot of the day to reading.On day three though, it was forced. Like I still had work to do.And it was the middle of the week.Emails are being sent,but today it's a Friday,there's not too much going on.And I think it just makes me realizethat part of the reason I was so messed up on day threewas the fact that I still have a life outside of reading.And it's pretty hard to escape into a bookwhen you are vividly aware that that life is still going on.It's something to think about,I don't know, back to - This (beep).It has been a very long time since I felt anything while reading, but (smack)Done! I did it.I read five books in five days.My usual review, good book, great book.Glad I took so long to read itbecause the sequel is already outand Hank you left us on a cliffhanger with this one.The past four days,I felt like this unique cognitive strainthat comes with reading,where it pulls you in and asks a lot more of you.Versus today's experience,which I can only describe as me binge-watching a mini series.Like that's what it felt like.It still felt immersed in the story.I still consumed this narrative,had a great time, flipped through pages.Wouldn't quite call it reading, felt different.I thought that this week was gonna be a slog.I thought that it was gonna be brutaland full of failure,but instead I just had a great time.Anyway, for now.I'm just gonna relax 'cause I read five books in five days.Who is she?Alright, so it's been a few dayssince I wrapped up the challenge, and my gobs are still smacked.I did not expect to be able to do that, but I did it.I read these five books in five days and you can too,if you wanna get into the data of it all,I did time track reading each book and made this graphic.Wow, is that data visualization.Anyway using that and this whole experience,I've created a conveniently numbered listfor how to read more.Number one, narratives read fast.There were three books in my list with a range of narrative involvement.None.Some.Honestly reads like fiction. That just happens to be true.And even though I read them under separate treatments,I felt like the more narrative, the more immersive and the less likely I was to get distracted.So narratives, good.Number two, audio books read faster, a lot faster.This was my second fastest book.This was my fastest book.However, a lot of that speedcame because I had a visual aid.I don't think that I would have been ableto read the book as quickly.If I was just listening to the audio book alone. On the few occasions that I looked away from the bookand started multitasking.I found that I needed to rewind after a few minuteswhen I realized I had no idea what was going on.Number three, challenges work,kind of in agreement with that gamification study,I mentioned earlier,challenges and games can create these short-term motivationto keep you going while you're tryingto relearn your long-term internal motivation.Like why you like reading,why you want to keep reading.Finally, number four, accept that reading is slow. If you only care about extracting data,there are faster ways.There are digitized documents with control F,optimized internet searches,podcasts played back at two times speed,but reading for reading sake is glacial.And at the start of the week,I kind of hated that I found that frustrating,but now I realized that the bug is a feature.In order to read,I need to take time for myself as a person outside of work.I need to disconnect from distractions.I need to be physically present. When I started this video,I mentioned that I miss the feeling of reading as an escape.I think I lost that because escapinghas gotten a lot harder.Work, and responsibilities, and stresscan take up so much of youthat there isn't enough time or energy to be yourself.Unfortunately, you can't life hack your way around that,you can't add more hours to your day.I think that's why I like reading.I needed to safeguard that time,and that time was used exclusively for me. And that was incredible.So if you want to read more,I encourage you to not only establishthe temporal boundaries setting that time aside,but also the mental permission to be yourself,to take that time for you to read.But yeah, that's what I took away from this week.I hope you liked it.If you did, maybe share it with a friendwho you think might also enjoy it.Promotion, call to engage.Alright, I'm gonna go read now, bye., Why You Stopped Reading, Answer in Progress, 01h5hwmhm9fsba4ey8r0tjvg1k.