I'd wager this right there is the problem.
Sounds like you're reading through books like they are a chore. Instead, find one book with a subject/theme that interests you (so the subject itself is not boring) and then try to relax and read slowly.
If it's fiction, savor every word and phrase, try to visualise the description/emotion/action. If it's non-fiction, think through what what you just read means, why is that's so (it's okay to not have answers, questions are important).
I know "try to relax" is unhelpful. But one approach I'd try is to carve out a block of time (say, 1hr), put your phone/devices on Do Not Disturb, set an alarm for one hour (so you don't think too much time's slipping away) and just read.
It's purely anecdotal, but both me and a couple of friends commented on how consuming short content (eg. youtube videos, short blog posts) led to "attention atrophy". If the content doesn't "get to the point" immediately, we get anxious and bored.
If this describes you as well, try consuming less short-form and more long-form content (longer videos, longer in-depth articles, etc).
That is probably true. Now if something is longer than 5 minutes I don't watch it end to end, but keep skipping "to the point". When I listen to lectures, I am always listening at fastest speed possible and also skip. I tried meditation as well, but I have this feeling of doom crawling around my thoughts when I meditate. Like I am sitting here meditating, and worry that work is not being done. I need to get to the bottom of this.
The first audiobooks I tried listening to were books I had already read myself. Just to see how it would be if someone else narrated them. Despite having a feel for what the story was already. I'd lose track of it constantly. Akin to reading the same line over and over when tired. Which is arguably harder to rewind in audio form than in text.
Watching shortish videos on youtube or some livestream is fine for background noise. But to retain much from what was originally a 300 page novel or whatever. Having large parts of just be remembered as static feels really bad.
When I first started listening to audiobooks I did find that my mind would wander, but I've discovered that if I play the audiobooks at a slightly faster speed, I have to pay attention more and so my mind doesn't wander so easily.
Most self-help books do; not most books. I’m using that term in a broad sense to encompass books which explore one major “life-changing”/“perspective-shifting” idea, like any by Cal Newport or Simon Sinek.
Those books have little substance. They’re pamphlets padded by examples supporting the one thesis. Find an online talk by the author and you’ll get 90% of the juice without spending a penny and by a fraction of the time investment of the book.
Eventually what I realized was that these books were actually stimulating my thoughts at a higher frequency than the author intended. This is only really a bad thing if you need to get through the book under a certain deadline. Stimulating new thoughts is precisely why I read books in the first place!
These days, when some sentence sends me on a mental rabbit trail and then consciously pause and follow it as far as I like before returning to the text. Overall this is a much more satisfying reading experience for me.
Recognizing that a work is writerly isn't always obvious. It's often obscured by the fact that reading it can be so stimulating and enjoyable.
Buy a dumbphone, strictly restrict access to the internet via computer. Wait a year to regrow your abilities.
Sorry to sound like your dad.