Ereaders and ADHD
I know a lot of this is going to count for just a plain normal book as well, but… books cost money, and ebooks are way cheaper, especially for readers, like me, on a budget.
Reading and ADHD don’t go well together. Pre-diagnose, I was known as the person that read 100 books, one paragraph at a time. I needed that much changing. I needed that much different stimuli. I am on rilatine now for a quite a while and it has been great, but I still struggled to read books on my ipad. App-distraction is a thing, especially when you have messenger there that can distract you. How can an ereader help with ADHD and those that love to read?
Most ereaders today have a function that tells you how long it still takes to read the chapter you are in. I, myself, am one of those that loves to know how many pages still in a chapter, even in a normal book, so that I can push through, before I take a break. If it takes to long to push through, I will mostly stop at a period if the chapter takes to long.
The big thing for me, is that you have no distractions except your book. No apps nagging for your attention. Although ereaders nowadays have browsers, they don’t invite you to go on the web. Airplane mode is an ereaders best friend so no internet to distract you. I have the basic Kindle now for 2 weeks and finished 4 books in that timespan. In the past of reading digitally, that would have taken me ages. I read the 5 books I got for christmas, approximately in a month. Now I am at 14 books in total since january first (date of writing: 12th of february).
I love to switch books and books are heavy, especially when you need to take trips or have to go to work. I now, thanks to my ereader, have my whole library, spanning over 200 books with me. It is lovely to finish a book, and having the next one lined up at the tips of your fingers. I love the feeling of focussing and going through to the next book, not having to stop and have that reading flow taken away from me.
Try reading a book in the dark… you can’t, can you? I know. There are reading lights, but they are a damn nuisance if your book is 900 pages thick (Exegesis of Philip K. Dick. I am looking at you.) Now, almost every ereader has a build in light. It doesn’t disturb the person sleeping next to you, and you are still able to read until you either finish the book (and it is daylight again) or until you get so tired that the ereader falls on your face (all readers know the reader kamasutra)
I hate waiting. I hate it so much, that mostly, I am the one sitting on the ground somewhere reading. Winter, summer, I don’t care. I will read sitting on the ground if there is nowhere to sit and I have to wait. Ereaders are great companions. Also they are great when you have to travel by public transport and like me, you don’t like it that much and you need to focus on something else. Looooots of books is a good thing then. I can always find something that I want to read in a massive library of a few hundred books.
If you haven’t given ereaders a try, they are a nice step up from a traditional library, although I love the feeling of a book in my hands as well, I am sold to my little device. I wouldn’t want it any other way anymore as I am now able to read cheaper and anywhere.