Hayles- How We Read Response
¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 2 The Internet has changed how we read, and not in a good way. I am a person who believes the Internet is one of the inventions that has changed the world the most, but not all of it has been for the better. Prior to this age of digital reading, reading was done in blocks of time, for hours at a time. For me personally, as I have grown up and used the Internet more and more, I have noticed my attention span can’t handle reading for hours at a time anymore. I have to constantly be distracted by my phone, by something on TV, or anything else and don’t read for as long as I used to. This anecdotal evidence seems to be supported by Hayles’ claims in How We Read. Hayles states, “reading skills… have been declining in junior high, high school, college, and even graduate schools.”
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 1 Due to this decline in reading comprehension, I believe the definition of reading has changed and will continue to have to change to shorter periods of reading, with hopefully a deep engagement in those short periods. I would argue that reading as a whole has not changed overly much, but the time period of reading has become much shorter because of the way the Internet has changed our brains. It would be best to read for a block of time in order to best track and identify themes, patterns, and ideas. However, since our brains have been changing due to the Internet, my definition of reading now would be short bursts of reading, with deep critical thinking about what has been read in order to make sure the comprehension is still there. This practice seems to have been put into place by many teachers, such as those Hayles quotes in How We Read. They say they have already started assigning short stories or excerpts and chapters instead of long books because they can’t get their students to focus for the long period of time required. Already, the implications on the discipline of reading as a whole are being presented to these educators who have had to change their curriculum to better suit the student.
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 1 A positive of reading’s definition changing is the pressure put on educators to change. I think it is a good thing for people to have to examine a problem from a new angle, and this has helped educators do that. I believe it should help them become better teachers as they imagine their own ways to combat the reading issue. The con is obviously the distracted, hyperactive, attention-span shortening beast that is the Internet is slowly changing our ability to have prolonged periods of deep critical thought, and I’m not sure there is a way to change that without getting rid of the Internet entirely, which I am definitely not advocating.
“constantly distracted by my phone, by something on TV…”, I feel your pain here. I have resorted to using website blockers with a timer to spend that time reading uninterrupted. Even still, that phantom limb feeling that creeps down your arm to check your phone is frustratingly real.
I appreciate the directness of your pessimism here, Lloyd.