Have you ever met someone who doesn't read automatically unless prompted to?

Those two examples are also types of digital screens; I wonder if you see her do this with anything actually printed or written on paper or other objects? Thinking back I have noticed that my parents will sometimes fail to notice things like notifications on their computer screens; and my Mom once said “well I wasn’t *looking* in the corner up there”. In other words, I wonder if this could be like “grew up looking at screens” vs “grew up without many screens” behavioral trait?

My husband is like this. The irony of the situation is that he often wears T-shirts with words on them and is always surprised when people comment on them. For example, he had a T-shirt with a picture of a bike that said “traffic killer” and he was dismayed to find out how many people would make conversation about it. He says he doesn’t go around reading people’s shirts, but I had to explain to him that if I see a word pass in front of my eyes, I can’t help but read it. It’s completely unconscious. But then again he’s also one of those who doesn’t hear words inside of his brain when he’s thinking like I do.

I used to read text automatically but then I got a job where I was migrating mental health records from one patient record system to another. I spent days and days just copying and pasting the contents of one box in the old system into an equivalent box on the new system, a lot of what was on these patient records could be quite distressing (I shan't give any specific details for the sake of confidentiality). I soon reached the point where I could look at a piece of text and just choose not read it, it just became a wall of text so I'd be copying across risk assessment forms for patients and have no idea what it was that I'd copied across. This ability acted as a bit of a defence mechanism in some ways for I couldn't find something upsetting if I hadn't read any of it. Even now if I look at text I immediately recognise it as text but can choose not to read it.

As a UX writer and content designer, I can confirm people not reading words on screens is an issue. That’s why we need certain components and ways to highlight and breakup the text. But I suspect familiarity with screens and digital self-serving is the issue here.

I hate traveling with people who don't read 😩😩. It feels like for some people signs and letters are just for decoration.

As someone who waits tables, it's incredible, the amount of people who choose to ignore the information provided in front of them. 

My husband does that too. And he's not old.

Then it's probably design related. Like images interfere with the information she's taking in. If there's a visual break someplace i can easily miss text that is near or in a large object like an image because i'm only expecting to see that image, not more stuff. Some people with images and pictures, get overwhelmed with the amount on the screen and can only focus on one. It's not a 'she won't read' thing, it's just one of those things that happens with design and how some people's brains work. One thing I do is i'm supposed to take medications, but i'll only take the meds in the prescription bottles. i have one that is in a giant bottle and it is right next to all the normal meds and i will ignore it even if i'm looking right at it and know i'm supposed to take it. Something in my brain says "no, you're not supposed to use that one" Eventually i put that medication into a normal sized bottle and now i never forget. There's somethign about a big thing near a small thing or something about objects not looking like the rest of the objects that will interfere with your brain. Humans have brains that are directly designed to look for patterns. If something breaks the pattern, it can go off script. I'm pretty sure that's all this is and it's not like she and similar people are effed up in some way.

She may read fine enough with her glasses a book that she can hold at just the correct distance for her aging eyes, yet still struggle with a phone held by someone else or a screen at an awkward distance or angle. Also, a book or even an ebook will have likely better contrast between text and background. Finally, as a hard of hearing person myself, I’d suggest it may also be an attention splitting/overwhelming issue. If you are faded in some of your senses or distracted by coping with new tech and culture (Older people don’t expect a picture to have words on it) it is easy to miss things. My partner is often frustrated by my missing details in things because my eyes and attention have to flick from whatever he is showing me to his face and voice if he’s talking at the same time. Try letting her have the phone in her own hand and don’t talk while she is looking at it and see if her comprehension improves. 

I have the opposite problem. Once I spoiled the ending of a book by just idly riffing through the pages with a finger for 10 seconds because I liked the feeling :( I must’ve seen the words for a fraction of a second but nope that was enough to know X killed Y…

I wish I were like this! Can’t stop reading everything and all street signs and packaging etc bombarding me with words all the time

This is something I also noticed recently after getting promoted to a management role. So many people asking me: “what’s this?” If I hand them a piece of paper with only a short sentence on it, or an instance of another employee erasing some important info on a whiteboard- I kept saying “no, please leave that, it’s important” and she said “why? What is it?” It was like 3 short bullet points of text… I was so confused that I had to say “read it” So I am realising now that not everyone involuntarily reads any text they see, but not only this, some of my staff seem to require verbal prompting to read something, sometimes acting as though they need permission before reading.

My brother doesn’t automatically read something unless he’s explicitly prompted to because he has severe dyslexia. When I told him that if my eyes pass over words, regardless of my intention, words go into my brain, it blew his mind. I explained that like a flitting glance won’t download a full paragraph, but like if my eyes pass over a sign then I’ve read it, or if my eyes pass over a page with its handwriting, I’ll have seen enough to know if it’s a work thing or a personal thing or whatever the topic is, or like I go out of my way to not look directly at someone’s screen because if a text pops up I’ll have read it, so I don’t look at their screen, in order to prevent that from happening. It was as shocking to him as like when a person with aphantasia learns that most people can literally see a mental picture in their minds. So like, leaving a post-it note for him someplace where he will see it means nothing, he won’t read it, because he doesn’t know it’s for him, and he didn’t know it’s for him because he gets zero information input from looking at it. He has to actively intentionally read, the way that it was for me when I took a semester of Arabic and I had to make an active point to read each sentence, it wasn’t automatic. And like, he can’t realistically go through life pausing and slowly methodically reading every single thing in case it applies to him. That’s genuinely not sustainable or realistic. It’s a very intentional effort for him. We really take for granted what an automatic process it is to read signs and screen prompts. I’m not suggesting that this is true for your grandmother, but this is the story of someone I know who doesn’t automatically read things.

My wife does not get most of the memes and jokes I send her for exactly the same reason. She’ll just glance at the picture and say “I don’t get it”. Over the years I’ve learned to not send her most of the stuff I find funny, maybe it was her goal all along.

We use Adobe InDesign at work. We need to be using the same version so important to keep it updated. When there’s an update there’s a red circle 🔴 in the top menu bar. I’ve shown my colleagues this many, many times but no… I still need to email my colleagues and/or help them click the red button.

yeah my roommate in college literally could not read signs or notices unless you pointed them out. like he'd walk past a huge banner that said FREE PIZZA and not register it at all. his brain just filtered out text unless someone directed his attention to it

i’ve seen this too... it’s like they don’t process the text unless they focus on it. just different habits i think. :)

I have an inner voice and first class degree in literature and also have to read on purpose, I've never been able to sight read properly 

Yes! My gf can look at words without reading them. I genuinely don't know how she does it and will get surprised about it every time it happens.

My son has dyslexia. I've learnt that he navigates the world by looking at pictures, objects, colours, and only as a very last resort reading any text. Eg If he's buying crispy he'll immediately reach for the flavour he wants, by colour, I'll still be reading labels.  He can tell u exactly where someone lives, but not their road name etc. 

yeah i have a friend like this, they can obviously read but unless you point something out they just kind of glaze over any text. honestly i think it might be more common than people realize, especially with how visual everything has become

I don't get a choice. Sometimes I'll be minding my business and have a word in my head that I know I didn't think myself and have to look around for it like I think there's a ghost. I have ADHD fwiw.

My 16yo son does this. Dude is holding a box of cake mix and asks me how many eggs he needs. He’s literally holding the box with instructions and quantities not me. Like…wow. I have to tell him to read the box and he gets annoyed with me. I don’t know exactly what he’s thinking is going to go down when he asks me things like that.

I am virtually positive my brother is like this. It would not surprise me if my father and his brother were the same.

I read all the time. It’s the main part of my job, but there’s nothing I hate more than someone shoving their phone in my face to read some stupid meme. No one can hold their phone still and the effort to read it is annoying.

My husband was like this, but it turns out he has a problem with his eyes, so if he wanted to read something he had to focus in on it and ‘try’. The last time we went to the opticians he was told that isn’t what normal people do and they put prisms on his lenses to focus his eyes properly and now he can read without trying.

I get the card machine if it’s one of those that’s covered in irrelevant text. The one at my p******* is like that, the whole screen is covered with things like bright eye catching windows telling you to sign up for reminders to pick up prescriptions or get your flu vaccine, while the actual prompt you need is in smallish plain font somewhere, and where the prompt is changes for each stage of the process.

It’s a cognitive issue that older people deal with. My mom was a book keeper for decades. I’m an accountant. Early on I asked her a question about a problem I had and she said “I do t understand the stuff you do”. I had seen her doing that thing for years. As years went on she struggled with instructions. The last year of her life she sometimes got confused attaching files to emails. The last time she was online she was paying a tax bill. After she spent 30 minutes on it I went to see what she was doing. I finished making the payment for her.

My husband haha. Ironically I can't not read and have always loved reading. It's a running joke in our household where he asks how I knew to do something and I tell him that I just read the words?! I swear he only married me so he doesn't have to deal with paperwork. To be fair to him, he is dyslexic and genuinely struggles with words and reading.

Yes. My husband and a niece. Both are severely dyslexic, can read, but don’t enjoy it. Both are smart people. My husband will read manuals as needed, and my niece will read books to her littles. But other than that, no. When hubby and I first met years ago, he would see me reading and be amazed that I LIKED it. 😀

Yup. I can read 900wpm and type 180. I remember a crazy high amount of what I read, hear, see... but I do not do so unless prompted.  Not to road signs.  Not to memes.  I'm consistently either seen as brilliant or an idiot.   I researched and wrote my entire 60,000 word dissertation in 6 days.  I also misread a map and drove 6 hrs south instead of north.  😁 My therapist says I need to get checked for autism and ADHD. 🫣

Yes, p sure my mom is dyslexic

I’ve only noticed this with grandmas. lol. I feel like it’s a generational thing

My brain usually reads the first couple words in a sentence and then guesses the rest so I don’t have to read it. It’s very annoying when reading a book I have to go back to read the rest of the sentence

It could be just a sensory overload thing. Or it could be the pressure of needing to read and understand something in a short time frame. I can read very well and tend to read automatically. But when someone shoves a funny meme under my nose and expects me to laugh immediately, the pressure makes me not be able to take in I what I am reading as quickly as usual.

No, I have not met anyone like that.

Im wondering if it could be colour coded dyslexia. Like I know a few people who can read fine but depending on the colour of the writing and background they just cant, so they avoid it. And your grandmother being a teacher, back then when she was a kid, dyslexia wasnt recognised. It was assumed the kid was lazy or stupid, so she maybe learned to read on a basic essential level? I know you said she reads books but that could be continued learning....

Maybe…she did read it and didn’t find it interesting, funny or engaging? Only when you press her does she pretend as if she didn’t understand and chuckles (or whatever the appropriate response you’re looking for). That happens to me. I don’t find a lot of memes interesting or I’ve seen so many like it I just skip over it. An occasional meme can be great, but so many people only share other people’s memes rather than actually form their own thoughts and opinions.

Because that’s annoying brother. It’s many people’s pet peeves to be minding your own business and then “that guy” (or family member) shows you a meme that they find kneeling-slapping but you find it mundane.

Bruh leave your grandma alone

Unless your Grandma is like 30 why are you even trying to show her a meme?