Comments on: Skimming News Makes Us Dumber (I Have Proof!) http://lifedev.net/2006/11/skimming-news-makes-us-dumber-i-have-proof/ Helping Creative People Create Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:09:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Ultra Mega Power GTD links « GGTD-Geeks Guide To Getting Things Done http://lifedev.net/2006/11/skimming-news-makes-us-dumber-i-have-proof/comment-page-1/#comment-497 Ultra Mega Power GTD links « GGTD-Geeks Guide To Getting Things Done Wed, 15 Nov 2006 13:29:52 +0000 http://lifedev.net/2006/11/skimming-news-makes-us-dumber-i-have-proof/#comment-497 [...] Does speed reading really make you stupid? In theory, the more we are able to read, the more we’re able to know. Sounds pretty simple, right? It actually isn’t. Because nowwe’ve introduced a mindset that skimming is the new black. How else can you keep up with all the happenin’ stuff going on around the web, 24/7? If you don’t skim the news, you’re pretty much a loser. Even on playgrounds kids who don’t skim Dr. Seuss get beat up and have their lunch money stolen. Okay… maybe it hasn’t gotten that far into our society, but it’s close. Real close. [...] [...] Does speed reading really make you stupid? In theory, the more we are able to read, the more we’re able to know. Sounds pretty simple, right? It actually isn’t. Because nowwe’ve introduced a mindset that skimming is the new black. How else can you keep up with all the happenin’ stuff going on around the web, 24/7? If you don’t skim the news, you’re pretty much a loser. Even on playgrounds kids who don’t skim Dr. Seuss get beat up and have their lunch money stolen. Okay… maybe it hasn’t gotten that far into our society, but it’s close. Real close. [...]

]]> By: glen http://lifedev.net/2006/11/skimming-news-makes-us-dumber-i-have-proof/comment-page-1/#comment-494 glen Wed, 15 Nov 2006 03:00:05 +0000 http://lifedev.net/2006/11/skimming-news-makes-us-dumber-i-have-proof/#comment-494 Evan, Your comments rock. Never hold back the urge to leave a comment here ;) Actually, this was posted before your comment (or at least before your comment was moderated). But you can still feel special ;) True, news and books are different things: one's more time sensitive and frequent, and it uses a whole different mindset. But unfortunately I think that the lines have blurred between distinguishing news sources vs. book-like reading. People carry over their habits from both. As for the thoughts on aesthetics: VERY true. I still go to Lifehacker sometimes because of the layout, even though I have a perfectly good feed from them over at Google Reader. Evan,

Your comments rock. Never hold back the urge to leave a comment here ;)

Actually, this was posted before your comment (or at least before your comment was moderated). But you can still feel special ;)

True, news and books are different things: one’s more time sensitive and frequent, and it uses a whole different mindset. But unfortunately I think that the lines have blurred between distinguishing news sources vs. book-like reading. People carry over their habits from both.

As for the thoughts on aesthetics: VERY true. I still go to Lifehacker sometimes because of the layout, even though I have a perfectly good feed from them over at Google Reader.

]]> By: Evan http://lifedev.net/2006/11/skimming-news-makes-us-dumber-i-have-proof/comment-page-1/#comment-492 Evan Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:40:12 +0000 http://lifedev.net/2006/11/skimming-news-makes-us-dumber-i-have-proof/#comment-492 Hmm, it's quite something to see all these posts in one day; someone was bitten by the blog bug! It's also quite ironic to see this posted after a certain comment I posted a short while ago (http://lifedev.net/2006/11/subtle-format-changes/#comment-486). Should I feel special? :D I agree on the book thing, I recently read 2 books after a total addiction to RSS which I think is still there but less so. I have figured out how I can personally curb my problem, to an extent, I suppose but there is something to consider, news and books are two different things. We have a whole different mindset when doing certain things, not unlike the complaints that teenagers would do poorly in English because of Instant Messaging and all the acronyms used, but the fact is that when communicating with friends they think differently than writing an essay for the S.A.T. One thing that is a major factor for me to read something is how a site looks, aesthetically, or I should say that it DID matter since I get everything through RSS but I do still go to nytimes.com because I like how the site is laid out and it is just nicer to read there, but that's not to say I still won't skim. Interestingly enough, the same can be said for physical books; the paper and way it is printed is a factor I take into consideration when deciding on a book. It's really an interesting topic which I can relate to totally and would love to go into more detail but I won't, I should probably get my own blog and stop hogging yours! :p Hmm, it’s quite something to see all these posts in one day; someone was bitten by the blog bug! It’s also quite ironic to see this posted after a certain comment I posted a short while ago (http://lifedev.net/2006/11/subtle-format-changes/#comment-486). Should I feel special? :D

I agree on the book thing, I recently read 2 books after a total addiction to RSS which I think is still there but less so. I have figured out how I can personally curb my problem, to an extent, I suppose but there is something to consider, news and books are two different things. We have a whole different mindset when doing certain things, not unlike the complaints that teenagers would do poorly in English because of Instant Messaging and all the acronyms used, but the fact is that when communicating with friends they think differently than writing an essay for the S.A.T.

One thing that is a major factor for me to read something is how a site looks, aesthetically, or I should say that it DID matter since I get everything through RSS but I do still go to nytimes.com because I like how the site is laid out and it is just nicer to read there, but that’s not to say I still won’t skim. Interestingly enough, the same can be said for physical books; the paper and way it is printed is a factor I take into consideration when deciding on a book. It’s really an interesting topic which I can relate to totally and would love to go into more detail but I won’t, I should probably get my own blog and stop hogging yours! :p

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