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Comment by sidcool | Hacker News Reader

Difference between binge watching and binge reading is that reading warrants a good amount of imagination. Watching is pretty much a passive activity, and hence easy to get addicted to. Good article.

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I agree. I noticed the same thing with reading articles online (or threads from HN), there's no friction and you end up getting a good amount of dopamine after much less time than you would by reading a book.

I would argue that the dopamine from a book is actually higher. You invest more into a book and are thus more likely to manipulated by what the author is saying.

On the other hand a documentary I invest no effort into watching it and thus can remain relatively unbiased.

I guess reading is more fun the more you write. I stop to think about concepts laid in books more often than not, which provokes myself to write immediately. Also, you see the way people write and which words they use, which you can immediately copy. Finally, I don't really know what it is, but if I spend even 10 minutes during breakfast to read a book, I find myself more productive in writing later the day.

There was an article about how reading taps into different parts of your brain, your self, your imagination, calmness, wander.. so much things that are good and lacking today. Binge is almost (done right it can be really nice) exactly the opposite of what we should do.

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