<story><title>Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skim-reading-new-normal-maryanne-wolf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nkcmr</author><text>Did anyone else click through to the article and think: “okay, try not to skim the article about how bad skim-reading is!”?&lt;p&gt;I really like this article. It is aligning with very formless thoughts I have been having over the past year about the varying qualities of information and how it can affect your minds health. Much like a food diet, I have been thinking that it is wise to cultivate a healthy “information diet” in order to preserve good mental health.&lt;p&gt;Amid frustration with my degrading attention span last year, I swore off a lot of the social media things (Twitter, most of all) to see if I could regain the ability to actually get through some books. The results were quite astonishing in my case, I was able to crack through a few books and actually focus on side projects.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I am not as optimistic as the writer here that we will be able to pull out of it. Much like modern society battles overweightness, diabetes and all kinds of ailments that stem from poor diet, I think we will suffer a similar fate when it comes to moderating our information intake.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jnurmine</author><text>I think it is not about your attention span degrading. It is a matter of adaptation to too many things competing for our attention, and the desire to consume all this information. (It is an interesting question as such as to actually why one has to consume all this)&lt;p&gt;There are advertorials, advertisements, tweets, news entries, status updates, articles, books, mailing lists, and everything in between.&lt;p&gt;Since there are too many things, one needs to prioritize. But to prioritize one has to understand the value: Is there anything new for me? Will it be entertaining? Will it be factual? Will it support my point of views? Will it challenge my point of views? Is it trustworthy? Is it plausible? Is there a hidden agenda? Is it propaganda? Whose points does it support? And so on.&lt;p&gt;And how to find out at least some of these without reading the entire text? Skim it!&lt;p&gt;Now, skimming usually gives enough information about the value. But when done deliberately, one can not only assess the value, but often get the main point(s) quickly too. (Call it &amp;quot;speed reading&amp;quot;)&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve had (and still have) this same &amp;quot;problem&amp;quot;, but I don&amp;#x27;t consider it a problem anymore. Skimming is good, but one has to be able to turn it off.&lt;p&gt;This is what I do: skim, for quick screening and early out to avoid wasting time. Then, if there&amp;#x27;s not much time available, speed read, do a 2nd and maybe 3rd pass of skimming.&lt;p&gt;If there&amp;#x27;s plenty of time and information seems worthwhile, then sit down and start reading as if there&amp;#x27;s nothing else you can do. Like you were stuck on a cottage without your phone&amp;#x2F;tablet and it rains outside -- reading is the only thing you can do without getting bored or going to sleep. (I don&amp;#x27;t know if you can relate to this idea, you can find your own memory with a similar idea)&lt;p&gt;Since I already know there is some value, it motivates me to go on.&lt;p&gt;Now, when it comes to fact books, I try not to read from cover to cover, but chapter to chapter and then re-evaluate. Fiction books are different, since it&amp;#x27;s usually for entertainment (and of course sometimes for interesting ideas).&lt;p&gt;So, I am optimistic that people will learn new strategies and not all hope is lost.</text></comment>
<story><title>Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skim-reading-new-normal-maryanne-wolf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nkcmr</author><text>Did anyone else click through to the article and think: “okay, try not to skim the article about how bad skim-reading is!”?&lt;p&gt;I really like this article. It is aligning with very formless thoughts I have been having over the past year about the varying qualities of information and how it can affect your minds health. Much like a food diet, I have been thinking that it is wise to cultivate a healthy “information diet” in order to preserve good mental health.&lt;p&gt;Amid frustration with my degrading attention span last year, I swore off a lot of the social media things (Twitter, most of all) to see if I could regain the ability to actually get through some books. The results were quite astonishing in my case, I was able to crack through a few books and actually focus on side projects.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, I am not as optimistic as the writer here that we will be able to pull out of it. Much like modern society battles overweightness, diabetes and all kinds of ailments that stem from poor diet, I think we will suffer a similar fate when it comes to moderating our information intake.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>isostatic</author><text>Forget the article, I skim read your comment.&lt;p&gt;I think much is to do with the format - reading on a small screen I feel I skim more than on a desktop monitor.</text></comment>