sorry if I'm being a bit negative today but I kinda think the worst human beings on the planet are the "audiobooks don't count as reading" people. such an incredible marriage of pretentious gatekeeping with an incomprehensibly stupid hill to die on
Replies
Fascists are the worst human beings on the plant. I like all kinds of books!
aug 12, 2025, 7:57 pm • 0 0 • view
All cultures had oral literature thousands of years before they had writing. Audiobooks are a return to our roots.
aug 13, 2025, 4:31 pm • 3 0 • view
nope it’s still the Borg
aug 13, 2025, 1:40 pm • 1 0 • view
I'm a really big reader, I don't care what device you use as long as you read, which seems to be dying a slow death.
aug 13, 2025, 3:04 pm • 1 0 • view
I generally prefer actual books just cause it’s what I’m used to and I think physical media is important, but yes. Audiobooks are totally valid. It doesn’t matter how you experience a story so long as you experience it at all. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a clown.
aug 13, 2025, 3:56 am • 3 0 • view
I listen to audiobooks because I can’t read.
aug 13, 2025, 12:25 pm • 4 0 • view
Then how did you know what his skeet said? Hmmmmm?
aug 13, 2025, 12:47 pm • 2 0 • view
Screen reader obvi
aug 13, 2025, 12:47 pm • 3 0 • view
aug 13, 2025, 12:54 pm • 3 0 • view
I both read and listen to books and have done so for decades. Reading is different than listening. Not better. Different.
aug 13, 2025, 4:26 am • 5 0 • view
As long as they aren't on Kindle. We are boycotting them.
aug 13, 2025, 4:26 pm • 0 0 • view
My eyesight is getting progressively worse and reading books is just becoming too tiring. Audiobooks are a godsend.
aug 13, 2025, 3:59 pm • 1 0 • view
Please, just read. I certainly do both. But ,for me, audio and reading spark the imagination differently. One seems to be more literal. The other illicits smells, touch and taste out the annals of one’s history. it depends on how good the writer is. Bet you didn’t know your history had annals?
aug 13, 2025, 1:41 pm • 0 0 • view
I guess all those experts who tell us it's important to read to kids don't know what they're talking about.
aug 13, 2025, 3:44 am • 3 0 • view
At what point did he say "don't read to your children"? 🤔
aug 13, 2025, 11:56 am • 1 0 • view
He's talking about people who don't think audio books count as reading. Reading to kids is good for them, so why wouldn't someone reading to us through audio devices be good for us in some way? I was supporting the OPs point
aug 13, 2025, 1:20 pm • 3 0 • view
My bad! Read it the wrong way and I agree with you!
aug 13, 2025, 1:27 pm • 3 0 • view
No worries. Easy to miss context on social media.
aug 13, 2025, 1:41 pm • 2 0 • view
I would say "the worst human beings on the planet" is a bit hyperbolic. I would also say that the assumption is often that those listening to a book aren't as engaged as those reading. But imo you can skim a book the same way you can half listen to a book. That's all on the reader/listener.
aug 13, 2025, 4:53 pm • 0 0 • view
I have often found that I tune audio books out and miss a lot that I can't when I'm physically connected to a book. But that's on me. I'm sure others prefer or need the audio.
aug 13, 2025, 4:54 pm • 0 0 • view
Audiobooks are awesome and should be celebrated, especially from an accessibility standpoint. I even counted the Tempest Runner audiobook I listened to this year in my Goodreads list, it was awesome But it still feels different to me than actually reading 😛 but also I don't care that much lmao
aug 12, 2025, 4:29 pm • 6 0 • view
I co-sign.
aug 13, 2025, 2:12 pm • 2 0 • view
They count as listening which is a great way to internalize eloquence, knowledge and imaginary worlds. But it is not reading which is an entirely different exercise.
aug 13, 2025, 4:41 am • 2 0 • view
The craziest thing is that half of those people don't even read what they consider"real" books to have any reason for talking like that about audiobook listeners
aug 12, 2025, 5:20 pm • 3 0 • view
I just haven't had the time to read lately. Audiobooks during my commute means it's not all or nothing
aug 13, 2025, 2:22 pm • 2 0 • view
I don't understand the animosity about this issue. My mind has a hard time understanding the spoken word, so I can't enjoy long periods of being read to, but that's me. If it works for you that's great. At least you are being entertained and/or learning something. Different strokes folks!
aug 13, 2025, 3:27 pm • 1 0 • view
Audiobooks are the first step on the path to sensory wickedness. Sure, it may seem innocent to *shudder* listen to your books, but think about what comes next. Going to a museum to SMELL the paintings! Sitting down to TASTE a stage play! It's the devil's work. This is what they'd have you do!
aug 13, 2025, 12:24 pm • 2 0 • view
I love audiobooks.
aug 13, 2025, 3:51 pm • 2 0 • view
Thank you Chris! I appreciate you brother.
aug 13, 2025, 12:07 pm • 1 0 • view
My problem is semantics I guess. Reading involves your eyes, audiobooks involve your ears
aug 13, 2025, 4:14 pm • 0 0 • view
I can understand there's sort of a linguistic disconnect there when we say someone read a book by listening to it; what helped me divorce myself from the notion that reading is something that must be done with the eyes is remembering that blind people using braille are reading with touch
aug 13, 2025, 4:22 pm • 1 0 • view
I get that but to me Braille is still a “hands on” approach like reading with your eyes. You still use touch, to turn the pages, you smell the paper. To me reading is a full spectrum experience not just plugging ear buds in & listening to a book. But that’s just me, I’m a very tactile person though
aug 13, 2025, 4:50 pm • 1 0 • view
Similarly, I just saw a TikTok claiming that the most attractive hobby a man could have was reading but the most unattractive hobby was….comics. Comics ARE reading, you walnuts!
aug 13, 2025, 7:18 am • 3 0 • view
I agree it's absurd but maybe not the WORST human beings give in the competition now there at the moment!
aug 13, 2025, 8:16 pm • 1 0 • view
The people who say this really are super losers. Reading is just a way to consume the story and isn't inherently good on its own. It's just a means to get the content into your brain.
aug 12, 2025, 3:54 pm • 3 0 • view
It's the result of centuries of fetishizing the written word while downplaying the actual *content* of the writing. The act of reading is turned into this revelatory, rapturous experience that makes you so much smarter than all those other people. 🙄
aug 12, 2025, 4:00 pm • 11 0 • view
THIS. It becomes method and aesthetic over content.
aug 12, 2025, 4:03 pm • 6 0 • view
Are these the same people who lament that "people don't read anymore" and don't count people reading 10k+ word long-form articles online as reading?
aug 13, 2025, 4:09 pm • 1 0 • view
I do both, they are different methods of consuming content, similar to reading a script vs. watching the play. One uses eyes, one uses ears, it doesn’t matter as long as it gets into your brain.
aug 13, 2025, 2:53 pm • 2 0 • view
“Then, I guess you don’t think Braille books are reading, either—do you, you pretentious ass?”
aug 13, 2025, 1:43 am • 4 0 • view
I must be the most confusing abomination they've ever met. I have a whole reading system that utilizes every platform! Audiobooks when I play WoW/Picross/Cozy, physical books when I'm waiting during my kid's weekly appointments, digital for reading before bed/at night! 😆
aug 12, 2025, 3:51 pm • 11 0 • view
fair enough
aug 13, 2025, 4:53 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm 64 now, and my eyes are getting quite bad. While I gave up Audible out of protest and lack of money, I do enjoy a good audio book. You can multi task while taking in something. I still enjoy a good paper book from time to time, but it takes me a lot longer to do.
aug 13, 2025, 2:17 pm • 1 0 • view
also pretty ableist but whatever 💅
aug 12, 2025, 3:47 pm • 23 1 • view
I read the first post and immediately thought, “wow that’s ableist of them” and then saw this part lmao
aug 12, 2025, 4:25 pm • 6 0 • view
I'm so busy with work and I'm on the road for 2-4 hours a day. The only way I'd be able to enjoy literature right now is through audio books. I've recently gotten into dramatized audio books and they're amazing! It's a movie in your head 😂
aug 13, 2025, 11:55 am • 1 0 • view
Sounds similar to a podcast I’m listening to about Bambi Bembenek, like a tv show you visualize. Is this what people did before tv? Kind of awesome!
aug 13, 2025, 2:55 pm • 2 0 • view
The brain processing auditory information differently from visual information. It is different but not really in a negative way. Remember that when we speak of "memory", there is the memory of scent and the memory of numbers and patterns. This information is processed differently in the brain.
aug 13, 2025, 9:11 am • 1 0 • view
You know a whole bunch of these people??
aug 13, 2025, 4:40 pm • 0 0 • view
I mean, they suck. But Trump and his cabinet still exist. But they are pretentious shitheads.
aug 13, 2025, 4:04 pm • 1 0 • view
AGREED!
aug 13, 2025, 3:45 am • 2 0 • view
There's still people trying this twitter-esque "lemme tell you what other people think" nonsense? Auditory and Visual stimulus are processed in completely different locations of the brain. That's not "gatekeeping" lololol How about normalizing praising people for listening? Isn't listening cool?
aug 13, 2025, 10:47 am • 0 0 • view