Show HN: I'm 35 and couldn't finish reading articles anymore, so I built this • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: I'm 35 and couldn't finish reading articles anymore, so I built this

#11

Post by ggomma » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:50 AM UTC

replwoacause wrote: post #9

I have this same issue. I’ll start reading something and within a few words or sentences I’m in full “skim mode.” Before I know it, my eyes have scanned and hopped all over the page. Then I’ll force myself to start again, only to realize my eyes are reading the words but my brain isn’t actually processing them. It’s gotten noticeably worse with age, and honestly I think AI has made it even worse. When it spits out hu…

You just described my experience perfectly. the skim mode that kicks in automatically, eyes moving but brain disconnected, forcing yourself to restart only to drift again. It's exhausting.

The AI observation is interesting and I think you're onto something. We're training ourselves to scan for "the answer" buried in walls of text. It's efficient for extraction, terrible for actual reading. Different cognitive modes, and one is cannibalizing the other.

With ADHD-PI in the mix, I'd be really curious to hear if Parsely helps. The one-paragraph-at-a-time approach seems to work well for some ADHD folks, it removes the overwhelming "wall of text" feeling and gives your brain a smaller, more manageable target.

But brains are different, so no promises. Let me know how it goes either way. If it doesn't work for you, I'd genuinely want to understand why. I think it might help me and all the other people who suffers same thing make it better.

Re: Show HN: I'm 35 and couldn't finish reading articles anymore, so I built this

#12

Post by ggomma » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 6:53 AM UTC

treetalker wrote: post #10

Throwing it out there: read with pencil in hand and make notes. That means printing out what you want to read from the web. If you feel like making handwritten notes about a piece wouldn't be worthwhile, that's a powerful indicator that it's not worth reading and not worth your time anyway.

This is solid advice, honestly.

The pencil-in-hand approach forces active engagement. Your brain can't drift when it's hunting for things worth noting. And the "would I take notes on this?" test is a genuinely good filter. I used to do this in college. Somewhere along the way I stopped, probably when "reading" became "checking 47 tabs while pretending to work."

The printing step is where I fall off, though. There's enough friction there that I'd just... not read the thing.

Parsely is partly about reducing friction to zero—same tab, one keypress, you're in.

For me, the best system is the one I'll actually use. But you're pointing at something real. "tools that force active engagement beat passive consumption every time".

I'm tring to do this by making you deliberately advance through text. Printing and annotating does it even more forcefully. Different tools for different people, maybe different moments.

Re: Show HN: I'm 35 and couldn't finish reading articles anymore, so I built this

#13

Post by replwoacause » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 4:32 AM UTC

ggomma wrote: post #11

replwoacause wrote: post #9

I have this same issue. I’ll start reading something and within a few words or sentences I’m in full “skim mode.” Before I know it, my eyes have scanned and hopped all over the page. Then I’ll force myself to start again, only to realize my eyes are reading the words but my brain isn’t actually processing them. It’s gotten noticeably worse with age, and honestly I think AI has made it even worse. When it spits out hu…

You just described my experience perfectly. the skim mode that kicks in automatically, eyes moving but brain disconnected, forcing yourself to restart only to drift again. It's exhausting. The AI observation is interesting and I think you're onto something. We're training ourselves to scan for "the answer" buried in walls of text. It's efficient for extraction, terrible for actual reading. Different cognitive modes,…

Reporting back with some feedback. This extension definitely helps me read through content more thoroughly which is great...so thank you for that. One thing I’d love though is more control over the darkness. Even at the darkest setting, a bit too much still comes through and I find it slightly distracting. A slider that could go all the way to black, letting me fine tune how much is visible would be ideal. That said, I plan to keep using it and it’s effectively replaced reader mode for me!