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Did a small survey last year on this point and discovered that while technology might sound distracting people are actually spending more time reading/viewing s
by KorematsuFred 8y ago
Did a small survey last year on this point and discovered that while technology might sound distracting people are actually spending more time reading/viewing stuff they like more lot more than before.
We found that among teens for example very few people read anything from news websites very rarely but almost every single teen had read at least one article in depth on very niche topic that appealed to them. (For example reading about affairs for their favorite pop star). Most teens performed very poorly when they were given 1 hour and asked to prepare a presentation on "any american hero".
- iscrewyou 8y agoDo you have a paper or a link to read this study?
- Apocryphon 8y agoThis article goes into the difference between horizontal and vertical reading.
- duxup 8y agoTotally anecdotal story / corner case: I was a terrible reader growing up, I had ADD before the days when they diagnosed that. My son also has ADD and strangely, he is an avid reader. I've caught him reading two books at once (both in his lap) and swapping between them and he was comprehending them (I did some Q&A). At least on the very surface to me that might mean that reading is not necessarily antithetical to someone who is prone to distraction / lack of focus .... or a distraction heavy world. We've seen history full of predictions what the phone, or video games, or computers would do to seemingly related technologies, and not been good at predicting the result.
- pault 8y agoThis is called hyperfocusing (AKA the zone) and it's a typical characteristic of people with ADD. I have it pretty bad and I almost flunked out of school because I would spend all day reading enormous serial fantasy novels (wheel of time FTW!).
- cf498 8y agoOT, but is there by any chance a series similar to wheel of time, or that captured you in a similar way, which you would recommend? Havent found anything quite like it, but that might be because of nostalgia and my fond memories of reading it as a teen.
- pault 8y agoWhen I was a teenager I loved the series that started with sword of shanarra, but going back and reading those novels as an adult mostly makes me cringe. :)
- ChanderG 8y agoIf you are looking for sheer scale, can recommend Steven Erikson's Malazan family (around 36 novels set in the same world; starting with the Malazan Book of the Fallen) though the atmosphere is much bleaker. Another recommendation would be Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere multi-series (Mistborn, Stormlight Archive), currently in progress, closer to WoT thematically.
- skandl 8y agoThat's impressive! I agree, I think where distraction comes into play is an inhibitor to actually get started reading.