#the cognitive/health benefits of specifically sitting in silence and fully devoting your brainpower to reading | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mutualmango · 1 month

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reading some of the book v audiobook discourse, and i’ll say this: come for the audiobook listeners if you want (i do both, idc) but i’ll die on the hill that listening to another person read is closer to actively engaging with literature than whatever those “””speed readers””” are up to

#they literally just like saying they’ve read a lot. you’re not critically interpreting anything at a sustained 800wpm or whatever #personally if i listen to an audiobook i’m pausing and rewinding so much bc i want to actually internalize the info #instead of letting it passively wash over me #i think a lot of this discourse comes with both negative presumptions about the listener and overly generous ones for the reader #not all readers are created equal either #i think engaging with literature—especially more challenging works—is the most important part and is possible with audiobooks #the cognitive/health benefits of specifically sitting in silence and fully devoting your brainpower to reading #are worth considering—especially in this low attention span world we live in.#but i think it would be naive to say #most people arguing strongly against audiobooks give a sincere fuck about the cognitive wellbeing of people who struggle to sit and read.#and i know it’s embarassing when people pathologize their lack of desire to challenge themselves #but i think it’s just as pathetic to self-soothe by developing a superiority complex over something so stupid #also you’ll notice i didn’t even touch the topic of disability #and that’s because we’re all on tumblr and it’s literally the most well-covered aspect of this discourse and i have nothing to add #you know and i know

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