I notice myself skipping like that all the time. I follow a few Japanese accounts, and unless I’m making an effort, I just scroll right past those posts. Glad to hear you’ve gotten to the point where you’re more likely to read them than not!

Your brain will take whatever shortcut is easiest, and when you’re learning to read, that’s skipping past. Takes a lot of practice before you look at text and can’t not read it.

I think a lot about my experience learning to read English (native language) as a kid. How there was that big gap of time where I could read, but it wasn’t automatic. I’d play games but ignore most text. I see the same in my nieces and nephews when playing games with them. For so long, your brain decides the discomfort of reading is too much to be worth the dopamine you’ll get from the message.

I also think a lot about how I’ve heard that those uncomfortable moments, where you constantly want to stop, are the parts where you’re learning. Hope it pans out, because right now reading Japanese outside of learner content is always a struggle for me.