It seems to me that there are several ways we can satisfy our innate need for story and immersion: reading, gaming, movies, television, to name a few. I wonder if others have trouble sustaining focus with multiple narrative forms.
I have no problem switching between TV series or movies, but I am troubled by my inability to sustain both an ongoing novel and an ongoing game (computer rpg game, in my case.) When I get caught up in a good game I lose interest in reading, and vice versa. So my reading life suffers when I’m excited about a game for weeks or months at a time, and my game is dropped when I get enthusiastic about reading from my massive to-be-read bookshelves. I wish I could sustain enthusiasm and focus in both, because sustained time away from either makes returning much harder.
I’m interested in hearing whether this is troublesome for others too.
I don’t find it hard to return to reading at all, but yeah, the gaming reflexes wane a bit if I’m away for long. However, I find I can’t be as obsessive about gaming as age and increasing joint issues make it impossible for me to sit for hours in front of the computer. So instead of devoting every available (and some unavailable) moments to gaming for a week, I’ll play for 1-2 hours, then around bedtime I’ll read in bed for a while. It makes for a nice routine, and I don’t have a problem keeping the separate plot threads straight.
This may be somewhat off-topic, but when I am writing code, I like to have background music playing. However, when I am reading or posting, I turn off the music.
I typically cycle between many activities in a given segment of time. This does make my dreams quite interesting. I do hope it doesn’t disturb anyone here to disclose that this board actually shows up in some of my dreams. I imagine a not-too-crowded pub with many of the personalities here chatting with one another and offering up toasts.
I don’t game, so maybe your issue is specific to that genre, but I have no trouble sustaining multiple stories in multiple formats at the same time. In fact, last night I was noticing just how ridiculous it had gotten. I was watching a T.V. show in the living room, but I get easily bored during commercials, so each time they came on, I would switch to a movie that I had on the DVR. Meanwhile, I was doing laundry, which needs to be sorted/folded/etc. in the bedroom. So I had a DVD (of a T.V. series) on the bedroom T.V. (which doesn’t have cable), and as I needed to deal with a load of fresh laundry, I would go in the bedroom and watch that for a while. Each time I went downstairs to deal with the laundry, I would have both the bedroom T.V. and the living room T.V. paused with a show on the screen. While all this was going on, I was trying to get some work done on my computer, but it was very slow, so while I was waiting for something to process, I would flip over to the Dope. And of course I’m also in the middle of a book on my Kindle.
I’m the same way, but it has more to do with time management. If I’m engrossed in a book, I want to spend all my free time on it. Same thing if I’m engrossed in a game.
Interesting topic! I maintained a gaming habit alongside a reading habit for years as a teenager, but only because I HAD to–we had to split game time between five people on one television. But, as an adult, I prefer doing one or the other at a time (possibly because I tend toward hyperfocus).
I don’t see why it has to be a problem, unless you give up one or the other forever and regret it.
That’s a great way to put it, being engrossed and wanting to throw myself into it. But in my case it’s not so much about time management, more like focus or attention management.
It only troubles me in that 1) life is short and I’m middle-aged 2) I want to do everything and grok them all fully 3)so many books, so little reading speed 4) I totally forget how to play that game that was so amazing; I intend to get back to it but the longer I wait the greater the chore of re-learning it 5) I miss one while doing the other.
So basically I’m a glutton for wonder.