Serious reading takes a hit from online scanning and skimming

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Humans seem to be developing digital brains with new circuits for skimming through the torrent of information online. This alternative way of reading is competing with traditional deep reading circuitry developed over several millennia.
Serious reading takes a hit from online scanning and skimming, researchers say - The Washington Post
  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I don't care what anyone else says - in my world there is no substitute for curling up with a good book.
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
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    • Profile picture of the author David Beroff
      tl;dr

      (ironically, WF requires more text to post... sigh)
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      Put MY voice on YOUR video: AwesomeAmericanAudio.com
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      • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
        The Washington Post clearly didn't go to any stretch of effort to rid of irony as the info sits aesthetically redundant in an unattractive archive page.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          Like a lot of Web surfers, she clicks on links posted on social networks, reads a few sentences, looks for exciting words, and then grows restless, scampering off to the next page she probably won't commit to.

          "I give it a few seconds -- not even minutes -- and then I'm moving again," says Handscombe, a 35-year-old graduate student in creative writing at American University.
          I don't see a way to reverse this trend and I think it may damage us beyond belief.

          Short twitter comments - a tendency to put the shocking (and sometimes misleading) info in the first sentence or two of online comment - and people who never learned to read well to begin with.

          The risk isn't one person's lack of real information but decisions made and opinions formed based on "skimming". The sheeple reaction online is common and not a positive sign for the future.

          Kind of odd to think our technology addiction may be dumbing down internet users.

          My own addiction is Kindle Paperwhite - where I can browse the biggest bookstore in the world - have the book delivered to me instantly - and read to my heart's content.
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          Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
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    • Profile picture of the author Jacqueline Smith
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      I don't care what anyone else says - in my world there is no substitute for curling up with a good book.
      I agree!

      I don't have a kindle and have no desire to ever get one. I love my books!
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        I don't have a kindle and have no desire to ever get one. I love my books!
        I know - I've been saying that for years. I've always had stack of books around and boxes of books to donate at any given time. I've never longed for an ipad, an iphone or even a Kindle Fire.

        I bought the Kindle initially because I wanted to upload pdf's and ebooks to it so I didn't have to read them sitting at the computer or have to print them out. It works great for that.

        But turns out this Paperwhite is the best purchase I've made in years - seriously. It took about 5 minutes to get used to it - it works just like a book....open and read it, close it and your done. Even the cover I bought for it looks like a book. I read several books a week by favorite authors and my cloud library is growing quickly.
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        Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
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