Whether you have to read at school or in your everyday life, you may find the process boring.
However, reading is an important ability to have since it allows you to interact with the world and society.
Still, learning to read in school or reading itself can seem quite boring to some people.
Knowing why reading can feel boring can help you change things up to make it more exciting.
Everything from a bad experience in school to pacing problems can make a book boring, but here are some other reasons why reading can feel boring and some ways you might be able to make it less dull.
Why Is Reading So Boring? (10 Possible Reasons)
1. Someone’s Forcing You To Read
One of the main reasons why reading can sometimes feel boring is when someone is forcing you to read.
This is most common in school.
There are usually several books that you need to read in class.
You don’t get a say as to what you read.
You have to read them.
Whenever you’re forced to do anything, it can take a lot of the fun out of the activity.
That’s because you’re not doing it of your own free will.
Someone is telling you that you need to do it.
Reading is important to know how to do, but once you’ve learned how to read, it isn’t an enjoyable experience when you’re forced to read.
This problem becomes even worse when you’re forced to read books that don’t seem interesting to you.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can change when it comes to a school’s curriculum.
If they tell you that you need to read a book, you’re going to read that book or fail the class.
Instead, schools need to figure out a way that encourages students to read and learn about certain concepts that they want to teach.
One way they can do this is by providing a list of books for students to choose from.
Even though this still limits the student as to what they can read, it does give them some choice in the matter.
This can then make reading more interesting because the student doesn’t feel forced into it.
2. The Material Doesn’t Apply To Your Life
Some books are strictly for entertainment.
They’re written to invoke feelings or carry you away on a journey or experience.
Other books come with social commentary or a moral.
They’re designed to make you think.
A lot of these books are the ones that you tend to have to read in classrooms.
Schools want to develop your abilities to read and analyze the information that’s provided in the book.
The problem with a lot of the books that schools sometimes require you to read is that the moral or commentary doesn’t apply to your life.
They may have applied to a generation or two prior to yours, but they don’t apply to your life specifically.
It can be difficult to relate to books or enjoy them when it’s obvious that you’re not going to get anything out of the book.
Even the setting or events taking place in the book may not apply to your life.
When you’re not gaining anything from reading the book, it isn’t going to be interesting.
A way that schools can correct this problem is by replacing older books that no longer apply to students’ lives with newer ones.
There are tons of books published within the past few years that teach the same concepts while remaining relevant.
Students will have an easier time applying the concepts to their own lives and have more of an interest in reading the book.
Reading can sometimes feel boring when the book’s subject material doesn’t seem to relate to or apply to your life.
3. Dry Subject Material
Another reason reading can feel boring is when the subject is extremely dry.
A subject can be dry for a variety of reasons.
You may not have an interest in the subject material.
As such, your brain isn’t engaged with the information presented on the page.
It seems dry and boring.
Sometimes the subject material isn’t written to excite.
It’s just there to present the facts.
Essays, manuals, and other similar texts are like this.
They have a specific job, and they’re not there to entertain the reader.
Sometimes it’s because the author isn’t that good of a writer.
They may not provide you with detail or they may lack emotive writing.
This can make the adventure you’re reading about feel quite boring.
There’s nothing there to excite you about what’s happening on the page.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do to change a dry book.
If you have to read it because it’s required by the class, then you can try to make it more interesting by digging deeper into the book.
You can start to think about why characters are acting in certain ways or making certain decisions.
You may even be able to design backgrounds for some of the characters that seem a bit flat.
By engaging your imagination, you can potentially bring a very dry subject to life.
4. Poor Pacing
The human mind can only focus for so long.
Even reading a book for fun requires a good bit of focus.
You have to keep track of where the characters are in the scene and what they’re doing.
You need to be able to follow plot threads and visualize the scenery in your head.
If you’re not focused, then you’re going to miss details.
The problem with some books is that they have a problem with pacing.
This might mean that they have a lot of action and then a short time to recover before the next action starts.
In this case, the book can start to feel boring because the action starts to become mundane.
There’s no lead-up to it.
Sometimes the problem with pacing has more to do with the organization of the book.
If a book has very long chapters, it can be difficult to make it through each one.
It may make each chapter feel as though it’s going on and on.
Your focus may start to dwindle by the time you get to the halfway point in a chapter.
In this case, you may start to feel bored because your focus is starting to deteriorate.
Long chapters can make the process of reading feel quite long because most people mark chapters as progress.
It may feel as though you’re not progressing much in the book because it’s taking you forever to get to the next chapter.
That can make the process of reading feel boring because you’re just trying to get to the next chapter.
Pacing problems generally rest with the author.
At least with long chapters, you can always find a good halfway point within the chapter to stop at instead of pushing yourself to read the entire chapter.
5. Complex Language
Reading is also boring when you don’t understand what’s going on in the book.
This can happen when the language used in the book is complex.
The book might use a lot of large or unfamiliar words.
It may feel more like you’re reading a dictionary or an encyclopedia than a book.
When you have to keep stopping to look up the meanings of certain words, it can make reading boring.
That’s because the immersion comes to a halt whenever you need to look up a word.
If you find yourself doing this frequently, it may become impossible for you to become immersed in the book.
As such, you find the process of reading the book boring.
Another reason that complex language can get in the way is when the book uses archaic language.
For example, you may be reading a book from the 1800s or even older.
Authors then used certain words then that might not have meaning for you now.
Like every generation, there’s slang and allegories that are specific to that generation.
They don’t always get passed down.
If you don’t know what some of the common slang was during that time, you might not understand what some of the words mean.
Again, this breaks immersion because you have to do a bit of research into 1800s slang.
If the book is full of it, the immersion constantly breaks.
Finally, some authors will use invented words but not give explanations for them.
For example, they might have a type of energy source that the characters in the book invented.
They might refer to this energy source but never explain what it is.
If the author does this frequently, then you may not understand what they’re talking about.
This can make reading boring because you have no idea what’s going on in the story anymore.
6. Too Much Energy
Reading is a hobby that’s best enjoyed when you need a quiet day.
It’s a relaxing hobby that engages your mind more than your body.
Some people like to read before bed because it helps relax them.
There are quite a few benefits of reading before bed, but if you have a lot of energy, then it might make reading feel boring.
When you have a lot of energy, the idea of sitting down and reading may not be an alluring one.
You might prefer to go outside and do something physical with your energy.
If you tend to be more of a physical person, in general, reading may also seem boring to you.
It all comes down to how you’re wired.
Some people have a lot of physical energy that they need to expend.
They find the process of physical activities like sports, playing video games, and even working out to be satisfying.
More sedentary activities like reading and writing may not interest them because it doesn’t help them expend the energy that they have.
By reading, their thoughts may constantly turn to their inability to sit down.
They may instead be thinking about all the stuff that they want to do.
Luckily, this is an easy fix.
You can make reading more enjoyable by getting all your energy out first.
That might mean going for a walk or hitting the gym.
It might even be as simple as doing some gardening or cooking in the kitchen.
Once you’ve expended your energy, you might find that sitting back and relaxing with a good book is more enjoyable.
7. Haven’t Found The Right Genre
Another problem that can make reading boring is that you haven’t found the right genre.
Not unlike movies or video games, there are tons of different book genres.
You have big genres like horror, mystery, romance, and fantasy.
Yet, even in those big genres, you have smaller sub-genres that fall under each one.
If you like fantasy, for example, then maybe you’d like something with a low-fantasy setting, or perhaps you’re on the other side of the spectrum and prefer high-fantasy settings.
When it comes to romance, there are no shortages of sub-genres.
You could have historical romance books or even fantasy romances.
Just because you tried one area of a genre doesn’t mean that you don’t like the genre as a whole.
You may just not like that genre’s archetype setting or stories.
You should try out different sub-genres to find out if something clicks with you.
Of course, you might also dislike the genre as a whole.
For example, if you know that romances aren’t your thing, you shouldn’t force yourself to read that genre.
Instead, you should try a different genre.
When you find a genre that you like, you might find that reading isn’t as boring as you originally thought.
It all comes down to finding the genre that intrigues you the most.
8. Distractions
If you have a lot of distractions in your life, reading might be boring.
Those distractions may be as simple and harmless as noise.
They might also be more concerning such as fighting in the house or concern over job stability.
When you have distractions, it makes reading difficult to focus on.
Your thoughts are instead occupied by whatever is distracting you.
In the case of noise, your mind may be more focused on the source of the noise.
For example, you may be listening to hear if a child gets hurt or a pet gets into something.
If you’re worried about losing your job, your mind might be racing.
You might be thinking about the steps you need to take to ensure you’re able to pay the bills and get food on the table.
When you have distractions around you, reading becomes more of a chore than an enjoyable hobby.
When something feels like a chore, then you’re not engaged with it because you want to engage with it.
The experience you get out of it isn’t rewarding.
That can make the process of reading feel dull.
It may feel unimportant compared to the distractions around you.
A way to help that is to limit your distractions.
Move to a quieter part of the house if the problem is noise or fighting.
If it’s anxieties about the future, you might want to take a walk or meditate before you read.
9. Reward System Isn’t Engaged
People who don’t like reading because it’s boring may wonder why people like reading.
It all comes down to the reward system in the brain.
Some people who read books get a release of dopamine.
They’re engaged with the characters and plot.
They may even find themselves rooting for one character over another.
They’re experiencing the events of the book as if it’s happening to them.
Because of that, they get a big reward for reading.
It may be a surge of dopamine or just an experience that’s pleasant to think about.
They may even feel an emotional connection to the story and characters involved.
Those who find reading boring may not get the same kind of reward when they read.
They may not connect to characters in the same way or care for the events happening within the pages.
They might get their rewards elsewhere.
For example, someone might rather learn how to sword fight than read about it.
They get their dopamine release from doing something themselves.
Because they don’t get the same kind of reward that book lovers do when they read a book, some people find reading to be boring.
10. Book Length
Attention spans matter when it comes to reading.
Some people may find reading boring because the book is too long.
It requires too much of a time commitment from them.
Some people simply prefer succinct books.
Others love to read books that are several hundred pages long.
If something seems to require a lot of their time, then some people just don’t have an interest in it.
They want to use that time differently.
If they had to sit down and read a lengthy book, they might be thinking about all the other things they could be doing with that time.
As such, they’re not engaged with the book and find it boring since it keeps dragging on.
They may find that reading novellas or short stories is a better solution.
Conclusion
Reading is an activity that engages the mind.
Because of this, people who are more physical-based may find the act of reading quite boring.
Others may find the subject or genre of a book not, particularly to their taste which can make reading feel boring.
NEXT: Why Is Studying So Boring? (10 Possible Reasons)