40 Minutes

Illustration by Glen Cummings/MTWTF (Photo: Getty Images)

First off, I’ve always been a reader.  I’m also the type  that finishes books quite quickly.  This is due to the fact that if I put a book down for a certain period of time I usually forget what I have read and most likely will not pick it up again.  If what I’m reading is really that enthralling to me than it’s hard for me to stop reading.  I like the rhythm of consistent reading, but that doesn’t mean I can’t handle certain distractions.

My requirement for class this week was to read for forty minutes with no distractions.  In other words,I could not stray from the words on the page for any reason.  I read the first chapter of Andrew Keen’s The Cult of the Amateur. I was able to read it through with no problems and my only reaction is that I read at a faster pace due to….no distractions!

Carr argues that young people are losing their ability to “deep read” in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”.  It’s my view that an average person can read deeply if they want to.  There are multiple factors that cause someone to not be able to “deep read” .  To begin with, reading online is generally more uncomfortable in my opinion.  Your eyes may start to hurt and I know that I generally read slower.  With that in mind, it is easy to hop from article to article having only skimmed.  Secondly, there are a myriad of distractions in today’s world including people, the phone, email, etc. but you can control those distractions and you determine how they affect you. He cannot generalize young people and I’d like to see more research on this topic.  Lastly, it’s a matter of taste.  You’re not going to be able to read deeply when you’re reading something that has of no interest to you.

I had five text messages and multiple instant messages alert me during my reading.  Did I want to answer them?  Well yes, because I’m a busy person and sometimes people might need to get in touch with me.  If I had responded to these distractions, would it have disturbed my ability to understand the material?  I think not.  In fact, it allows me to meditate on a particular idea and come back to it.   Does it slow down my reading time? Yes, but do I lose my ability to be analytical? No.

Whether I had focused solely on the reading or welcomed distractions, either way  I still think I would have come to the conclusion that I would like to read more of Keen’s book.