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I often do this, too. I asked a psychologist friend about this once, and as we were talking about it, it came up that not only are more of our brains engaged when reading, but we also have a sense of our responsibility in the interaction with the story, and that can feel overwhelming. In a movie, it continued, no matter how I feel (unless I press stop). With a book, there’s a sense of me feeling responsible, because I’m the one moving the story forward by reading it. So some of it could be feeling overwhelmed by the story itself, but some of it likely is us feeling complicit in whatever’s about to happen in the story.
I like that explanation. I often find myself when reading a horror story or thriller reminding myself it’s not my fault, lol. I definitely put books down too for a few minutes til I am ready to pick them up again. My ereader stats probably think I’m crazy or stupid for these reading habits, oh well.
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