Flitting through multiple Facebook posts this morning, I came across an article from the London Guardian on slow reading. Huh? What’s that?
I’ve heard of the Slow Food movement, joined the online group and practice it in a moderate sort of way. Slow reading does not appear to be as well organized, but is gaining ground as a worthwhile and important strategy in response to the onslaught of the Information Age.
The article posits the question, “Is the Internet making us stupider?” Put another way, is our need to hop from website to website, link to link, typically never completing an article, much less thinking about what the author is trying to say, negatively impacting the way we process information? What is the result?
. . . [while] we have become very good at collecting a wide range of factual titbits, we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, contemplate, and relate all these facts to each other. — from The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
I encourage you to read the article. It is lengthy and cites numerous sources. And yes, it was a challenge to force myself to sit back and read it in its entirety. Confession: I, too, am an online skimmer.
Mary, I am so busted! I tend to be a skimmer as I bounce from website to website. Of course, I tell myself this is in the best interest of time. How can we ever read everything thoroughly. But I love the concept of slow reading. There’s nothing better than snuggling up with a good book. When I’m reading books, I generally read at a snail’s pace, absorbing every word. I guess it’s ultimately about balance. Learning and absorbing as much as you can in whatever time you’ve devoted to the process. Thanks for making me think!
P.S. OK, I admit it. I skimmed the article you referenced.
You’re right, Renee. It is ALL about balance. And our culture promotes non-stop -24/7 – faster and faster kind of thinking that ultimately is not good for us. Slow reading sounds like a healthy, pleasurable antidote to that.