If we want to speak of passion, reading is my number one. My favorite reading material is literature - novels, to be more specific. Over the recent years, I have noticed a shift in the way I read and have started wondering: where does this come from?
After a (very) few moments of hesitation, I have decided that it is pointless to beat around the bush and avoid the obvious truth: online reading has changed the way I read. Online-based information has changed the way I gather, analyze and utilize information.
Mind you, I still read novels, tons of them, with no haste and mostly with sheer pleasure. They are essential to me. On top of literature, I now read a whole new array of online resources, bringing to me information of a different kind: newsletters, courses, blogs, webzines, tweets and so forth. My horizon has definitely expanded in a way that I am enjoying - no need to deny it. That can only be a good evolution, right?
Well, yes and no. I want to read so much of what’s out there, just a click away from my eyes, that I do not know where to start. This is probably a mild case of being overwhelmed even though I do choose and update regularly all my subscriptions as a way to keep things manageable. To make it though - and to keep it a pleasurable and informative activity - I have literally set up a system based on the use of the Pocket app and extension. The app helps me save and keep track of the information I really want to read and to file it quickly under given topics/tags. In other words, if it ends up in Pocket, it is worth the time.
Speaking of time, this is where the complexity of the case comes forth: I tend to read online material only partially. I skim. Why? Because it is very easy to do so - a click, a scroll, and a pinch. While I read I feel the urge to check whether the next paragraph contains something more groundbreaking than the previous and so on. Even though the information is worth the time, I act as if I did not have the time.
This habit probably comes from my love of bite-sized, readily available and easy to digest information as delivered by Twitter (@Daydreamerdiary). I am fully aware of this tendency of mine and happy about it, or can fool myself into believing I am. Redemption probably lies in the acceptance and understanding of the roots of these two different reading and information filtering styles of mine: the traditional, cover-to-cover approach whenever I read a book (even one of my new books) - I guess you could call it the in-depth, vertical approach - AND the online reading approach that urges me to quickly scan, grab keywords and concepts and aim for the nugget of information diluted in a thousand different sources and a wave of simultaneous information - this could be called the bullet-friendly horizontal approach, the more the better.
The bottom line is: I am not looking for the same type and level of knowledge depending on what I am reading. I am not looking for the same reading experience either and, in the end, it so happens that I enjoy both ways. Even the context and background changes based on what I read: you will never catch me reading on my iPad at the beach. You will never catch me reading a novel during the working day.
How do you read? Have your habits changed over the past years? I am secretly hoping I am not alone here…!
Credits: Snappa (edited by TheDaydreamer)
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