reading fiction is 100% additive. One of the things that muted my reading is I had to not be reading fiction during the school year to get through college. Usualy do one book over winter break and a few over summer. Nothing for spring because its to short and second semester always seemed worse so was generally catching up.
this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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Ya I get that it's addictive but it isn't the drug-effect I'm looking at here. I'm looking at the deranging effects of periodic prolonged intense mental concentration. It's as powerful as any drug.
Fahrenhype?
I don't understand
It is a play on Fahrenheit 451. Good book if you have not read it.
Ah. Nuanced.
The ruling class in that book make a very similar argument to your post. It also has some really cool elements like re-envisioning history.
And book burning.
Son, are you showering in the caves of Delphi?
My brother in Christ, what you said, is some of the dumbest shit I've ever heard.
I ASSURE you, books are not as powerful as 5 tabs of acid.
I've done acid. And ya. But.
I'm looking at reading here because of the intense, prolonged and (for many of us) daily concentration involved.
The concentration of attention is the active ingredient here. It is a smooth and powerful modifier of consciousness. And its effects stick and compound over time.
Music would be a more apt comparison and has been shown to alter consciousness to a degree.
I'm going with reading because of the intense, prolonged and (for many of us) daily concentration involved.
The concentration of attention is the active ingredient here. It is a smooth and powerful modifier of consciousness. And its effects stick and compound over time.
No, it isn't. No more than concentrating on anything else is. It's kind of sad that so few people read books anymore that it's perceived as being like a trance. What about daydreaming or watching a movie or playing a video game? Are those trances or like drugs? I'd say those are at least as if not more escapist than reading a book.
Ah, but it isn't just concentration. It is (for many of us) prolonged, intense, daily concentration upon thoughts. Performed over years.
That is powerful and (because we are all embedded in it) invisible.
I'm in a deep trance while I'm reading your comment. No, wait, I'm sitting on the toilet doom scrolling...
Dude what is with this guy and his psychotic threads tonight?
“We should expose all of our private information because it becomes useless then and society will become a utopia”
“Don’t read, it’s actually drugs and bad for you”
Dude, take your fucking meds
Reading is a direct extension of oral storytelling, which is a defining human activity. So a better parallel would be to eating—and non-readers are the ones in an abnormal state, like being chronically malnourished.
I don't think it's like being on drugs at all but it opens your mind to other people's thoughts and they can be contagious. So there is a danger. It's the same as listening to someone though.
However, reading / listening while on psychedelics opens your mind even further which can be good or bad, depending on the thoughts.
