This post is what is called an "internet page."
Do you know how long the "average view" of any internet page is?
10 Seconds !!!
So, if you are like most people, then you will give ten seconds of your time to reading this post.
And how you read material on the internet is different from how you read a book. They call it:
F Reading.
It is F reading, because the letter F is the pattern for how your eyes move through internet presented information.
We know this: You don't read internet presented information in a way that is methodical and comprehensive.
You don't read line by line.
Instead, you skim and scan, quickly, through text.
You skip and dip down the page.
You glance across the first few lines entirely.
Then your eyes drop down the page. You scan about halfway across a few more lines.
Then you drift down the rest of the page, catching only a few of the first words.
For every 100 words of text, you spend 4.4 seconds reading them!
18 words in 4.4 seconds!
That's what accomplished (really good) readers can read
That means your internet reading engages less then 20% of the content of a page! And this is a very generous overstatement of how much you get.
Net Reading is actually a misnomer.
Internet reading is not reading as the word has been defined.
Even less is it reflective and contemplative of what is being read.
Let's call it what it is.
Let's mourn what is lost in the act of browsing . . .
* Comprehension . . .
* Enlightenment . . .
* Integration . . .
* Transformation . . .
Whatever else we may gain from Power Browsing and Net Reading, I'm not sure it is worth the exchange!
Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lcitypepad.com
internet surfing image found here
power browsing image found here