Do you guys read books to escape your shitty lives?
Gamers often game cause they want to escape their existence. Being almost 30 and having no friends and being a virgin. Of course you want to invest your free time and money on games.
But what about readers? Do you read to escape reality?
Why is reading separate from reality? Why is gaming? I read to for intellectual growth and aesthetic pleasure. Is that not reality? You are spooked is all.
Consumer culture has taught you what 'reality' is and you believe it.
I read for numerous reasons like
>keeping the brain sharp
>adding to one's world/cultural knowledge; picking up books from other cultures can teach one some neat things
>fun/entertainment
>challenge to see if i can understand and become better at it
I have a very happy and satisfying life, so I din't really read to escape it, but it is interesting to step into minds and worlds of others through lit.
I'm also a teacher to be, so adding more knowledge for my student's benefit is always good
>>8050660
No, the concept of gaming or reading as being opposite 'reality' is for normies.
People game because they like it. People read because they like it. If you have let the world tell you you are a failure and 'escaping reality' by doing what you love you've drunk the normie koolaide.
>>8050423
How can you miss OP's point? You had to have done that on purpose
>>8050423
>I read to for intellectual growth
>>8050411
Here's the difference between reading and playing videogames or watching tv.
True readers will still read through something they aren't exactly fond of reading. They have the discipline and the willpower to struggle through difficult texts, hard to grasp subject matter, or just plain boring reading that they know is for the good of them. No matter how much it isn't immediately entertaining, readers know more about struggling through content for the long-term gain. Reading is ultimately a discipline within itself, not just for pure entertainment value all of the time. Readers know the value of at least going through SOME struggle to reach the nectar of a piece of work, if there is any at all.
Videogames, most movies, TV, etc is all immediate satisfaction or almost immediate. You don't have to work hard for the brain to become fulfilled at least in some aspect. This is why most lazy people gravitate towards videogames and TV, because it's immediate escapism and entertaining satisfaction.
This is my opinion is why reading is so important, and why the decline of reading has contributed to the degeneration of intelligent thought within western society.
This is also why I think /lit/ is one of the last good boards, because I think we all share the similar benefits of reading. We all understand at least somewhat the skills required for reading, and the benefits it produces.
I think the idea of constant escapism is hedonistic and the product of lazy fucks that need to wake up and reactivate their lives.
>>8050411
I used to game obsessively, then I realized having a shitty life is better than none, so I quit.
I read to improve my life, not escape it.
>>8050770
>If you wanted to learn, you'd pick up a history.
Ya, that's not learning.
>>8050411
My life is shitty but books aren't an escape. A lot of literature is super depressing or at least unsettling. It's only an escape insofar as it's an enjoyable pastime but I don't see how reading is any different in that respect from building model ships or buying used lingerie on the internet.
>>8050770
>reading history isn't reading
>history isn't literature
hmm ...
>>8050759
>This is my opinion is why reading is so important, and why the decline of reading has contributed to the degeneration of intelligent thought within western society.
https://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp
>>8050770
ayy lmao
>war (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods)
>one side surrenders (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods)
>peace (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods)
>new war (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods)
>peace treaty (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods)
>peace treaty broken (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods)
>one side defeated (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods)
>peace (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods)
>war (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods)
better learn thousands of years' worth of this shit by heart; those are some really complicated patterns there of how the dumb masses have historically behaved (or so we've read in the surviving accounts from those periods), i'm bound to learn a lot about life from reading those
>>8050759
>"true readers"
>adding "true" in front of any hobby
>But what about readers? Do you read to escape reality?
I read to build my own escapist fantasies. I honest to god spend almost all of my time trying to become as isolated as can be.
I read so I can do those fantasies justice.
I read to challenge myself, so I can find new ways of thinking.
I read because I love those beautiful things.
>>8050759
While I do ultimately agree with you, the sheer fedora tipping contained in this post makes it almost laughable.
>>8051135
>>8050860
>>8050812
i find it hard to be passionate about explaining something without tipping a fedora I wish I wasn't so autistic.
Better than sucking down high fructose media like click bait//FB/Twitter/Fox News/CNN/Latest $100m+ comic book movie.
>>8051649
Don't worry, Anon, in the end you have something that genuinely makes you happy, while everyone who mocks you can only drown in their cynicism and bile.
I read to escape my country.
>>8050411
NO I SWIM IN THE OCEAN AND GRACE 7/10 GIRLS WITH MY SEXUAL PROWESS TO ESCAPE THIS SHITTY GAY AND PASTY MODERN LIFE
>>8050411
I do it so that I can see if I can relate to any of the characters. Or if I can add something meaningful to my life. And to think about my situation and the ones presented in the book. My life is okay right now.
>>8051649
Fuck, what did that dog ever do to them?
>>8051786
#WHITEGIRLSFUCKDOGS
