Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Can you read and watch TV or listen to the radio at the same time?
The very thought of reading and watching TV makes my head hurt a bit. I can do a lot of things while watching TV (write my rent check, knit scarves, do some very basic email sorting…) but not reading. They use too much of the same parts of my brain. I use to be able to write while watching TV, but I lost that ability somewhere around after college. It may be related to the ability to write novels while listening to class lectures (I was masterful at that, and no teacher ever caught me–I’d just keep two sheets of paper on my desk, one for writing and one for note-taking). No class lectures, no opportunity to practice writing while listening.
Anyway…no reading while watching TV. In theory I think I could read while listening to music, but I don’t. I use to while studying, and I listen to music while working…but not while pleasure reading.
I can read while waiting in line. I can read while walking–not something I do, particularly, but I have done it. Much easier to avoid bumping into things than you’d think (I mean, I can see around the book…) I can “read” while driving–audiobook only, of course! But I can’t read (visually) while riding in a car without getting sick, one of the very minor tragedies of my life.
Do you combine reading with any other activities? Anything you’ve tried to combine it with, and found you couldn’t do?
I have occasionally read and listened to a football game. It inevitably leads to me not paying attention to one or the other.
i like to read with the radio on but I listen to a classical channel instead of anything too rowdy 🙂
I can read or write when listening to music, although the music is more to fill in the other sounds than anything else. I occasionally read in front of the tv, but it’s not very successful – either I stop to watch the tv, or the book takes over and the tv is just on.
I can read while listening to classical music (no lyrics), but not while listening to talk radio or popular music with someone singing. It’s too distracting. I can check Facebook or read news articles while watching TV, but only if it’s a show that I’m mostly just listening to. I can’t read a book and do that though – it seems to require more concentration.