I’m by no means unable to read or comprehend text, I’m smart enough for life and people often compliment my intellect. Big tickets on myself I know.
However when it comes to reading anything it often takes me twice as long, just a meme with text or anything.
If I don’t concentrate on it I miss words or like an Ai hallucination I put random words into the sentence or muddle them around making things often hilarious for myself until I re read the text to get the actual meaning.
I would never say that to anyone, what the fuck? I do read very fast (considerably faster than I can speak or listen) so don’t have any expectations about someone else’s speed, no idea what is normal or average.
Take your time and enjoy what you are reading! Why are they in a hurry?
I have the opposite problem where I read too fast, but don’t actually process anything so I have to re-read it app over again.
If you’re processing nearly every word the first time you read it, then you’re doing fine. I wish I could read slow and understand, rather than read fast and not comprehend. (ADHD is a bitch.)
I don’t have situations that make me read in parallel with someone else, so no.
I do however suspect there might be a sort of ‘clock speed’ to different brains such that the rhythm at which they process can be faster or slower irrespective of ability to reason.
My brother and father both have diagnosed dyslexia and adhd i wasn’t ever checked. It doesn’t bother me though so I’ll keep on cruising along
I’ve always read about half the speed of everyone around me. I’ve never understood why. I think it could be mild dyslexia. I also have inner monologue narrator voice. You’re not alone.
There are plenty of possibilities from ADHD to dyslexia. You should consult a professional if this is a major concern to you.
Maybe undiagnosed Dyslexia?
Possible my brother has it I’m not sure if it’s genetic though.
Either was being in my thirties its not really hinderd me if I do
People are always telling me I read fast, but I don’t. I just spend a lot of time on it, apparently more than most people are willing to.
If I read too fast on things, then the information will be like grease for my mind and just speed through it. If I read slower, it helps better.
My wife reads so fucking fast. I’ll hand her a joke that 10 lines long, within 2 seconds she’s laughing and I think ha! You haven’t gotten to the punch line yet and then she hands back the joke, the fuck? How’d you read that so quick.
I imagine that coupled with the ability to comprehend and recall all the information is like a super power
I read at the same speed that the words would be spoken aloud. My SO tells me this is quite slow. I can force myself to read faster, but I find that the color of language is lost when I don’t include the right pauses and intonations.
That’s exactly what I do. I never thought people went faster I’ll have to ask my wife tonight
I answered above, but I do read a lot faster than I talk, and faster than I can listen for sure. Will read transcripts instead of watching videos because it’s faster, listening is too slow and speeding up the video does not work the same way for me at all.
This is correct, for me at least.
I don’t read the text out loud in my head. I can, but I’m able to understand and comprehend the intonation and text without “performing” it.
Same, when I read I ‘hear’ it as a voice in my head. And yeah, I can’t imagine enjoying reading without hearing that intonation and emphasis.
I can ‘skim read’ if I need to find something in an article, but that’s like doing a word search of something, glancing at paragraphs and looking for specific key words. It’s not enjoyable and it doesn’t make me think deeply about the text, even if I could probably summarise the content of article to someone afterwards.
I’m the same. Best I can do is read as fast as a kinda fast talker? I do not comprehend how a person can read much faster than speaking.
Read to slow what?
I read to fast. It’s an odd choice, but it keeps me from eating.
It’s not a bad choice. Reading to fast by reading too slow so you don’t have time to eat.
However when it comes to reading anything it often takes me twice as long, just a meme with text or anything.
If I don’t concentrate on it I miss words or like an Ai hallucination I put random words into the sentence or muddle them around making things often hilarious for myself until I re read the text to get the actual meaning.
If you don’t have any medical issue (like, say, a need for glasses to compensate for your poor eyesight maybe? Or maybe you’re being dyslexic?) I would question your reading habits. And be assured that this has nothing to do with how smart you are, or anyone else.
You can easily measure how slow you are compared to other people around you and if it happens you’re much slower than they are without any medical explanation I would ask if reading is something you regularly do, or not, and if you have ever been taught how to actually read… properly? It’s a serious (and non-judgmental question, bear with my lacking English here).
I mean, one just don’t magically learn how to read one day while growing up. It’s a 100% learned skill, and a real difficult one at that. It’s also a lot of practice and the more one reads the better one becomes at it, the less one reads… it’s like learning a foreign language.
I’m well into my 50s and I’ve been reading since I was a little boy. I read every single day but I’m not a ‘gifted’ reader, far from it. I just have been taught how to properly do it and enjoy it (reducing the amount of effort required) and, as a child, I was required to read by my teachers at school as well as, a lot more as a matter of fact, by my grandfather and by my dad. I was literally required to read books. And then I was also lucky enough to have the opportunity to read great books and authors, and to see those adults around me always reading books and use them as the incredibly powerful tools and weapons they are. It quickly stop being a requirement for me to read, it became something I wanted to do.
Seeing how little kids nowadays are expected to be reading at school (if at all? Are we now at the point where some teachers will encourage kids to read the summary of a book instead of the book itself?), and seeing how seldom most of those kids will see any adult person around them ever open a book, it’s no wonder reading is quickly becoming a lost art. And it’s no wonder reading for most of those younger people is much harder than it’s supposed to be.
Imo, it’s also no wonder there are so much resources spend to distract those kids to ever become fluent readers… but that’s a whole other discussion.
If you’re in that situation (obviously, I have no idea), the good new is that you can easily change that. You just need to start reading more, and more regularly. And you need to be patient before you start seeing a meaningful change.
Are there specific topics or genres you’re interested in reading? If so, you can go to your local library and ask the librarians there if they would be able to suggest some books in that genre. Even better, if you have no idea yet on what you may be interested in reading, you can as easily go to your local library and explain your librarian you would like to start reading more and have no idea where to start. They should be more than happy to welcome and help a new reader find their bearings :)
I’m fairly certain I learnt to read, I finished school with good marks etc.
I have read a lot of books, mostly starwars EU.
I’ve never much enjoyed reading though since I don’t see pictures in my head like others do.
I don’t need glasses or anything of the such, my brother and father are both dyslexic but I was never tested since my grades were always good in school.
I just don’t really enjoy reading though. In school we used to have to read all the time, which really killed me since it was no fun and I wasn’t able to get through a book as quick as others
Can relate. I’m seen as “smart”, but I do frequently get comments about how I read slowly. I don’t know what’s up with that.
Yeah it’s never been an issue for me but bothers people when they hand me a phone or something and say look at this.
Then get weird because I have their phone to long and assume I’m up to no good
I have their phone to long
FYI, it’s “too” long. Not trying to be a grammar nazi, but that’s the second time you’ve used the same wrong word. You say you like reading, so I’m just spreading the knowledge…
Out of curiosity, do those who read quickly type or write more slowly than you?
I read extremely quickly, and while I write (scribble unintelligibly) quickly, I type at a somewhat slower speed than average. ADHD but no dyslexia or disgraphia.
Don’t know if that’s a helpful data point.
I write to fast I suppose, I’ve never had a job in which I’ve been able to compare my typing speed to others.
I can touch type and certainly do it faster then those older then me but I was born in the early 90s so I’m lucky to have computer skills