"Nope, I Don't Like to Read! Hurts My Brain!"

Many years ago, and I'm talking the nineties here, my parents received a letter form some book club, where you order books for a very cheap price now, and then pay more money for books later on. Such schemes now seem almost laughable, given the cheap and readily available supply of books, and just about everything else, available at the best possible price online, but back in those ancient days before the big internet boom, that was the way things worked. I can almost hear Dana Carvey's SNL character, "Grumpy Old Man", complaining that "In my days, we didn't have no in-ter-net! We ordered fifteen books for a penny today, and then paid top price for a book we did not want or need or read later. We were stupid ignorant morons, and we liked it! Hell, we loved it!"

Well, this particular company was rather obnoxious. They had a couple of stickers to respond to their offer with. One was the affirmative "Yes, I like to read!", as if a requirement to liking reading was to necessarily order books through them. The other sticker was red and circular, meant to evoke a stop sign, I think. And it read, "Nope! I Don't Like to Read! Hurts My Brain!"

Needless to say, we all enjoyed a good chuckle when we saw these stickers. My parents even graced the refrigerator with it, so that the "Hurts My Brain" sticker could be a source of amusement years (even more than a decade) later.

That was like a joke, but in fact, a lot of people do view reading as a burden, and even the mere thought of it seems to hurt their brain.

Truth be told (and I don't know if this is your experience or not), but a lot of people - and I mean a LOT of people - simply don't like to read all that much. I have been asked by so many people why I read so much, don't I find it boring, how can it not force me to fall asleep during the overnight shifts? On and on, a lot of people are amazed that I can find reading actually interesting. It's still weird to me, and I recognize that reading help fosters the imagination, allows you to be, or feel, more creative (justified or not). More often than not, and this alludes to your point about the spelling, it helps you become, or at least appear, more intelligent. Your vocabulary expands, and so does your ability to communicate effectively and with confidence. Your intelligence likely increases, as does your patience, your curiosity (which seems like a good thing), and already mentioned was the fostering of one's imagination.  So, it's a win-win. It possesses some meditative qualities to it, as well. Think about it: you're sitting there quietly (at least on the outside), but your mind is focused, perhaps even intensely so), on something else. It is a means of communication. I am writing this that you are reading, but I am not uttering a word to others in this room right now. You are reading it, but not actually "hearing" me. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but that is pretty cool, isn't it? Sometimes, we take for granted all that is in front of us. But when you really think about it, it's unique, and something humans really only managed to accomplish very recently in their history, yet it is such a powerful mental tool, and changed history completely. It also separate us from the other animals (hope I'm not offending anyone's religious sensibilities here). Yet, so many people don't see it that way. Too many people dismiss it, and turn to TV or movies or the internet (exclusively) or video games (especially guys, I think). Those things can be good, but when taken to an extreme, they become distractions and obsessions, and serve to limit, rather than expand, one's mind and imagination. Or maybe, again, I'm overthinking it. You decide for yourself - lol!