https://www.teamblind.com/post/ByteDance-employees-Would-you-work-for-Hitler-FRSxfW1c
I don’t even want y’all to dunk on this, I just want to share this because it’s so funny. no dunking if you can resist 
If you don’t know what this website is btw, if HackerNews is Reddit for tech bros, then TeamBlind is 4chan for tech bros. Unfortunately very useful for career related information and specific company/tech industry information since everybody there is obsessed with climbing the job ladder
It’s so good at what it does lol
I keep it because there’s times I want to be not aware of existence and for time to pass quickly when sleeping/drugs aren’t an option. Bam, three hours gone
Wish I could get into books as easily.
It is because you have access to tiktok and similar things it’s so hard to get into books. I’m no better, but the instant and certain fun of a short video just beats out the long, potentially low fun you get from a book.
definitely doesn’t help but my adhd was a thing long before tiktok came into existence
going a month without a smartphone still could be a good experiment
this might not work for you, but i’ve made myself read by turning my phone off and sitting with the book for 15 minutes or half an hour. Even if I get distracted, I’ll have to get into it at some point, and then hopefully it keeps me engaged for a while. after the initial barrier is down, it’s usually not hard to keep reading.
I’ve done that before as a result of “can’t afford to fix/replace phone”.
Don’t have the willpower to do it by choice, but I can only describe it as “touching in with the foundation of what’s real”.
longer description
Like, more aware/observant due to not having a world of tailored escape from what immediately surrounds.
Example: Standing in line at a food place with a phone? Pulling out the phone and choosing whatever content one desires. Or being more likely to notice the sound of other breeze swaying a tree as you walk home if you can’t have the sounds you prefer summoned by the phone.
Without a smartphone it’s either entertain yourself with your imagination/finding a train of thought to follow to the end/ observation of the moment. I think my people skills improved a small amount as a result of all the people watching I’d do.
If you can pull it off without needing to, I recommend it even for a week just as an experience. It’s like living pre-smart phone life again, both the pros and cons.
Something that helps is cargo shorts/pants. Those can fit a paperback easily if becoming more accustomed to replacing screen time with book time is a desired outcome.
Yeah this reasoning is bad. I find books to be as or more addictive than phones if I find the right book. Like it’s actually unhealthy. At least on TikTok I have learned a surprisingly large amount. If I get stuck reading a good book it’s normally some kind of fiction. I swear I’ve read whole books in under 48 hours before.
The fact you needed to specify means just books in general won’t cut it.
get out of the misinformation vortex
not a problem, they said they wanted to read more, not read more non-fiction. You also can learn new ideas, ways of looking at the world, or even actual facts from works of fiction. Just make sure to double check them at some point.
good for you I guess. like, you personally don’t have the problem, but ask most people that want to read more and have the time and they’re being distracted by theri phoen or something like that. If we’re just flexing, I read a book in six hours once.
I wasn’t flexing at all. I was merely trying to point out that books can also be addictive. There is this weird idea that social media is somehow more addictive than other activities people do. I am trying to highlight that this is not always the case.
There is loads of misinformation in books too. There are also tiktoks made by actual scientists and experts just like there are books made by them. There is some serious bias here.
The way information is presented is more important than the information itself. When you read a book, you can slowly consider the idea, you are actively and consciously taking it in. Tik Toks are the most passive form of consumption, with what you will see predominantly controlled by an algorithm you don’t get to see. Things are suddenly and often bombastically thrust into your face, and explanations are condensed into mere seconds. People don’t often question tik toks information as they should.
Anyway, your experience is not relevant to people that have a hard time reading, I don[t see why you piped up. Social media is definitely more addictive because people interact with it in the way of gamblers and alcoholics on a massive scale.
People tend to treat books as an authoritative source. Few people would treat TikTok as an authoritative source. In this way books can be more manipulative a form of misinformation.
I would argue it could be a means of democratizing information for people who don’t have strong reading ability or don’t have a long enough attention span.
I have seen people become obsessed with researching things much like people becoming obsessed with social media. I have even had this happen to me. Any novel source of information or stimuli can become addictive. To compare this to something physically addictive like alcohol is ludicrous though. You can’t get withdrawal symptoms like seizures from not watching TikTok.