Thread 24665244

way too self conscious for that

Floating about the internet there is a picture of me reading IJ in public, but I have not seen it posted in many years, never seen it posted here. Growing up in a big household made reading with background noise part of reading for me and I do the bulk of my reading in coffee houses and bars.

>>24665244 (OP)
Yes. What else am I supposed to do while dining alone? Or while sitting alone at the park?

>>24665244 (OP)
No. I don't have physical books

>>24665286
Masturbate.

>>24665275
Jesus, it's like a unique punishment designed by one of the joking demons from my dream. I'm sorry that happened to you. Cameras were a huge, huge mistake.

>>24665287
E-books actually lend themselves better to reading away from the home than physical books, part of their attraction. Do you have a landline and a T42?

>>24665244 (OP)
Noel Gallagher looking ass

>>24665295
Nah, it is a good picture and I have no issues with it. Anyone who is going to judge me based off of that picture is not someone I am going to have interest in associating with. Why are people so hung up on what strangers think of them?

>>24665317
Haven't you heard? The entirety of human society hinges upon what people think other people think about them. Honour, reputation, and glory are more valuable than Tritium. They have always been the only currency. Money is just a means toward them.

>>24665324
>t. zoomer
Eventually you will figure it out, no one cares.

>>24665244 (OP)
Maybe in a quiet cafe or in the park. I honestly believe that a lot of reading in public is very performative. Last time I saw hot girl in a cafe who took out a book. She maybe read for a couple minutes, barely anything and then just started scrolling on her phone. It's a good way to meet women though you can always strike up a conversation with them by asking them what their reading.

Yes at the beach because I hate it.
But I usually don't because if I'm near the start it looks like I'm faking it, if I read too slow or look up words I look like a retard and because I probably look like a poser

>>24665365
Also if I start reading the book but I stop not long after because too much noise or I'm not feeling it then I look like a bigger retard who can't even be a poser correctly

Yeah.

>>24665311
lul

>>24665244 (OP)
I commute to work by public transport so I get a 1h of reading done back and forth. Sure reading in public can seem very gay... but you yourself if you are performing or just existing.

What is even weaker is to refrain from doing something you enjoy because you worry about being perceived a certain way. That's not even being gay, that's being a bitch.

>>24665244 (OP)
I saw a guy walking around holding a paperback in one hand and a coffee mug in the other in a crowded downtown area. I laughed.

>>24665244 (OP)
i didn't know johnny marr read dfw.

I have, but I don't particularly enjoy it. People seem to assume that it's performative and that I actually do want people to approach me because I have a book in my hand. If I do plan on reading somewhere other than my home I take my e-reader, it looks like a small tablet so people just assume I'm absorbed by tiktok or some other slop. I really enjoy reading while camping or vacationing, though. It seems silly to travel for the sake of reading, but it's usually the highlight of any trip I take.

>>24666238
Was it the coffee mug that made you laugh? I dunno why you specified paperback when that's kinda their purpose; ease of use, travel etc.

>>24665244 (OP)
I read in public but only when people aren't around, as soon a person pops up I feel self conscious, though it's not too bad since they would realize I'm reading in privately in a public space and therefor not really preformatively reading.

>>24665286
Post on mobile 4chan duh

>>24665275
I will find you.

Is this a uniquely American neurosis or something

>>24666391
I think it has been spurred on by memes about performative males. Being affected memes is funny though, must be a rough life.

Of course it is American, they're the only ones that actually live their lives solely through persona rather than actually being people.

>>24665244 (OP)
i dont even go out in public, let alone read there.

>>24665244 (OP)

Didn't know phreshboyswag was chill like that

>>24665244 (OP)
Ive been reading at the park, which is comfy. Especially because the parks in my area are essentially deserted lol :(

I once sat next to a guy on a 9 hour non-stop red eye flight from Miami to Santiago who raw dogged it the whole way with a copy of the Phenomenology of Spirit with 8,000 book marks and an endless series of gigantic Hegel commentaries he kept withdrawing from his backpack. Throughout the whole night, the light never went off. He stayed reading and scratching notes. I didn't know who Hegel was really back then, so I couldn't fully fathom the massive achievement taking place before me of fathomless concentration in a sea of word salad. As the sun rose, he was still focused, even as we descended to land.

why is the book as wide as him

>>24666497
Beastmode. That was my brother Jack. He killed himself two hours after that plane landed. Said he was too much of a pseud to live, the poor barn. Trapped in pyramids of gobbledy-gook, he said.

>>24666474
Pretty much the best activity to do at a park or beach. Good times :)

>>24666511
I like it a lot. There are a parks close by that are near deserted and unfortunately getting a bit rundown because of it. I feel like I am keeping civilization alive by reading in the park lol :(

>>24666184
>Sure reading in public can seem very gay.
Don't think like this bitch, folks

>>24665244 (OP)
There are too many distractions to read in public. All of these fags thinking it's inherently gay to read in public are insecure fags, there is nothing weird about reading a book with coffee or in a park. But if I try to do it inevitably a wasp lands on my arm or local youth start dancing within my peripheral vision or something like that.

I read Venus in Furs in public now and then in hopes of finding some depraved whore.

>>24665244 (OP)
No. Too noisy

>>24665244 (OP)
Yes and unironically I pull.
Cause in my country most "artsy" guys are just the performative stereotype with the matchas and plebcore books. we call them "palermitanos". I guess I'm one of them but I'm cooler cause I read more than they'll read in 25 lifetimes.
Unlike them I read the classics: Robert Greene, Jordan Peterson (the GOAT), Foucault, Chopra. I watched the essential TED Talks, etc. I guess they need to pump their game up

>>24665365
You need to break free from this neurotic self consciousness

>>24665244 (OP)
Yes, I read on the bus all the time.

>>24667023
kek

>>24665244 (OP)
I honestly fail to understand the "performative male" kind of thing. I am 35 and I have been reading in coffees for almost 20 years now. I have had girlfriends since I was 17 and have a fairly regular sex life, I was told that I am fairly attractive. I have lived in three european countries and I spent two years in the US. My habits did not change.
All this for context: I have almost never been approached by strangers while reading in public. I only had a couple of schizos (male) asking me questions, but never a girl.
On the other hand, I approached several girls in bars by asking them what they were reading and was together with one for almost two years.
The whole "performative reading" meme seems like another zoomer trend about where they dissect normal social behaviour they now feel self-conscious about after spending too much time online.

>>24665291
i do not recommend this, the consequences i faced are not something desirable

>>24665244 (OP)
I read on my kindle when I do the cardio bike at the gym. I just put on some fantasy slop so I don’t have to use my brain at all and it makes the session fly by. Something about keeping my eyes engaged makes it much better at staying in the zone than just listening to music or whatever.

>>24666283
>It seems silly to travel for the sake of reading, but it's usually the highlight of any trip I take.
Actually makes sense to me. I would do it if i could bother to make myself go outside. I find that its too easy to want to "stop" reading and take a break, and usually when that happens, I dont start reading again for quite a while

>>24666238
is it real or AI?

>>24667426
its 100% real, if you reverse search it theres a result from 2015 (maybe earlier but i didnt check past that one)

I find that feeling mildly self-conscious about the presence of others around me can help me focus on reading rather than looking at inane bullshit on my phone.

>>24668029
i think thats a symptom of a schizoaffective disorder kek
just wait until youre self conscious in the same way even away from the presence of others

>>24668049
>focuses on something which requires attention span instead of phone
>schizo

>>24668049
If that means I'll someday be as ashamed to waste time looking at /lit/ at home as I do in a coffee shop, then I really hope you're right.

>>24668068
no its more about being constantly worried about people judging you. this isnt always a symptom but id bet its one in that anons case

>>24668096
go to the gangstalking threads on /x/, its not something you want

>>24668115
I see you've mastered the first principle of terminally online psychobabble: project massively.

>>24668115
That anon made it clear that he was not constantly worried about it, he only worried about it when he was wasting his time on his phone doing things which only provide distraction. He is admitting that if someone came up to him while he was browsing his phone and asked what he was doing, he would be embarrassed to admit that he was rotting his brain. This is a good thing.
>>24668155
I think it is more a lack of self awareness and the narcissism which goes along with a lack of self awareness. He does not realize that being self aware means you can see yourself through the eyes of others, not that you think about yourself constantly. Most likely just young, I would guess around 20, or at least a hope that is the case.

>>24666238
are you black?

>>24665244 (OP)
i do what i want in public. just last thursday i walked around neked just because i feel like it. das me bruh...

>>24665244 (OP)
No not really. I like to read at home where it's comfy and quiet. If I have free time in public, which rarely happens, I'll browse the internet or listen to music.
Even on the plane, which is about the only time that I have time to kill in public and my ereader, I prefer to just sleep or listen to music.

I read while walking and out loud as well.

>>24665244 (OP)
No, I would get too distracted and be unable to focus as well.

>>24665244 (OP)
Too busy with my hands all the time, If there's a book I want to read it's done via audiobook with earphones.

>>24665244 (OP)
He looks like me
I want to kill myself

I'm a thirdie and when I lived in a city I didn't read in public because I felt I had to be alert at all times when outside

>>24665244 (OP)
no and I don't fart or pick my nose in public either

I read at the gym with people grunting and slamming weights around me. People probably think I'm crazy but I don't really care.

One author that always capture people's attention is Kafka. People often come talk to me when I read Kafka. Nobody cares about Dosto or Thomas Mann.

>>24665275
Honestly I only judge people reading IJ in public if they look like a douchebag and are only ~5% into the book.

>>24668115
>no its more about being constantly worried about people judging you
can you really blame them though? social media has fried peoples' brains and everything is some passive-aggressive HR department coded theater of cruelty.

>>24668658
I live in deep seclusion on the outskirts of a small town.
When I do go out, it is into nature alone most of the time.
Don't go out into public spaces for many months at a time really.
And even then it is very briefly to take care of some kind of necessity.
The only human being I interact with in person is a woman I'm inviting to Islam.
Still try to treat people kindly and do good deeds, just seek seclusion for spiritual reasons.

>>24668675
>I don't go out into public spaces for many months at a time really.
It's not a command, just a confession, I live in physical and spiritual isolation in the rural Deep South.
In a way it can be very liberating to have deep privacy, as much privacy as one can have in the internet age.

>>24666286
It was pretty much the guy's entire persona. He was wearing a tanned suede jacket with rhinestones across the chest/back and long fringe straps hanging off of it--walking back and forth holding up the book in one hand and the coffee mug in the other (the mug wasn't a travel mug or anything, it was a ceramic one you'd use at home). The guy wasn't an autist or a schizo but a hipster try-hard. He also had a really stupid grin on his face and would stick his nose up from time to time after sipping from his mug. This was all at a fairly busy intersection, he was doing loops around it, and getting in the way of people (i.e not the place to be reading a book and holding a breakable mug full of hot liquid). I was with a buddy in a restaurant and we both saw him through the window at the same time and started laughing.
>>24668016
The guy wrote an article about how he was made fun of on the internet and his Twitter is what you'd expect (he announced he was leaving after Trump won in November and hasn't been back though). I'll see if I can find it again if the thread is still up later.
>>24668196
No but you're autistic, lol.

Yes.

Audiobooks rule. I blast through books while i work with a single bluetooth earbud in.

>>24665244 (OP)
After taking public transit for about three months, I have come to actually prefer reading on the bus than at home, provided that I’m not exhausted or agitated, and if there is ample writing to read with. Reading on the bus is so therapeutic

>>24670486
Kinda sucks to read standing up though. Every day I go to work sat down and come back standing (I live on the first stop), and I noticed I read maybe at 80% of my normal speed when standing.
I'm not a particularly fast reader and english is my second language so I have to look up some words, but I have enough data to be confident in this