system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: how are we able to consciously read while zoning out at the same time?

You could be reading a book but then your mind starts to wander off about something completely different as you are reading each word and come to find that at the end of the page, you didn't take in anything you read.
gpt
Every action you can do is done with the coordination of multiple parts of your brain. Your eyes, in particular, connect to many different parts themselves. 

To read, you must track the text, interpret the symbols, interpret the words and grammar, consolidate that into meaning, and store that meaning. The part that tracks the text and controls your eye movements involves your muscles in a way that takes very little conscious effort. If you get distracted and that part of your brain doesn't get the order to stop reading, it will just keep going even if the other parts of your brain get interrupted. 

Every part of your brain can only do one task at a time. Each part can do a different task, but they have to work together for complex tasks.