#I have a very mixed opinion on booktok and bookstagram

[brainmuncher]

I'm not going to shame anyone for how they consume media, but this reminds me of some things I think about often.

I completely agree if this is about when some writing has those huge paragraphs with no breaks. In my typography class, we were given multiple reasons why those can be hard to read and encourage someone to pay less attention to the text.

Intimidation

Seeing a huge block of text can be seriously intimidating. When you see a giant block it is easier to see it as a lot of words to read and instinctively want to skim over it instead of actually reading it. When you space out the words it tricks the brain into thinking that it has fewer words than there really are.

Not only that, but you can use those breaks to highlight a point that you want the reader to pay attention to.

Breaking up the text will make the reader feel less overwhelmed by words and encourage them to read over the whole text. For instance, imagine you have two plates in front of you. One has a foot-long sandwich on it and the other has six finger sandwiches on it. Which one do you think would be easier to eat the whole plate?

2. Hard to find information and retain it

Without breaks in a text, it can be hard to find and retain the information within it. If you're making a giant text block sandwich describing the main character, then describing the surroundings, and then lastly what they're doing, there is a good chance that they will mostly only remember the beginning part.

After that, it can become easy for the reader to go on and realize that there is something integral that they missed and have to reread it over and over. Rereading a text multiple times like this can not only aggravate the reader but also exhaust them.

At that point, they will be taking in even less of the information fed to them and be less connected to the work.

I find that trying to limit how many different points you make within a single paragraph can make it easier to find the information later. If there are too many within one paragraph then it can become muddy and hard to find the information you need.

3. Exhaustion

It can be physically and mentally taxing to read giant blocks of text. Without any breaks, it can strain your eyes to figure out where you are on the page. Not to mention that it is harder to not mix up sentences and words within it. It's not accessible to all readers and will alienate disabled readers.

My professor was always very serious about accessibility in our work. If it isn't available for everyone then it will bring the quality of the product down. Blocks of text are hard for even an abled person to read, never mind someone with dyslexia, vision problems, or any other number of things that can make reading harder.

Making something hard to read will only exhaust the reader. Mental exhaustion is a killer in reading. I'll be talking about it more below.

The other way that I took this and the comments attached is that they don't like to sit and read for long periods and skip or skim over the text to finish it faster.

If you find that you do this for reading then there is a good chance that you either

A) Don't like to read as much as you think you do if this is a common occurrence. (I'd recommend trying an audiobook version if you still want to read the book.)

B) Are reading a book that is at a higher reading level than you.

C) Aren't interested in that book.

D) Are mentally exhausted.

Both B and D are signs that you need a break from reading. Whenever I catch myself starting to skim over my book instead of reading it, I take a break and do something else. When I come back to it later, I'm usually in a better space to read the paragraphs fully instead of skimming.

You don't need to push yourself into reading if you aren't feeling up to it. If you have to read it for school or something, try to take breaks whenever you can! It can seriously help you keep away from burning yourself out.

The best way to hate a book is by forcing yourself to read it. I'm so serious about this.

Forcing yourself through the exhaustion to keep on reading something can not only burn you out but also disconnect you from what you are reading. Reading a book when you are in the right headspace for it compared to when you force yourself through it is an entirely different experience.

Remember to take breaks and also break your paragraphs.

Do they know that reading is not mandatory? Nobody is forcing them to read?