Immersing ourselves in a book and reading on the Internet are very different experiences. Currently we read much more through our electronic devices, but what we see most are pages with quick and practical information, we rarely find ourselves immersed in reading something we are looking for on the Internet. A conventional book, however, due to its characteristics, makes it easier for us to commit to reading. Why is it important that we continue reading this way? What are the benefits?
Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and Keith Oatley, professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, reported in studies from and that people who read fiction regularly seem to understand others better, empathize with them, and see the world from their perspectives. This link persisted even after controlling for variables such as the fact that empathetic people may choose to read more novels. A study of found similar results in young children: the more stories they were read, the more insightful their “theories of mind,” or mental model of other people’s intentions, were.
People who read fiction regularly seem to understand others better, empathize with them, and see the world from their perspectives
“Deep Reading,” as opposed to the superficial readings we do when we are on the Internet, is a practice in danger of extinction, and one that we should try to preserve. If it disappears, the emotional and intellectual development of future generations (who are growing on-line) will be in danger, as will the perpetuation of an important part of our culture: the novels, poems, and other kinds of literature that can be appreciated only by readers whose brains have literally been trained to apprehend them.
Although we call it the same, deep reading of books and the reading we do when searching for information on the web are very different, both in the experience that the reader receives and in the abilities that they develop.
There is growing evidence to suggest that online reading may be less engaging and less satisfying, even for the “digital natives” for whom this is so common and familiar. Recently, for example, Britain’s National Literacy Trust published a which had 34,910 young people between 8 and 16 years old. Scientists reported that 39% of children and adolescents read daily using electronic devices, but only 28% read printed materials every day.
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Those children who only read on screen were three times less likely to say they enjoy reading, and were a third less likely to have a favorite book. The study also found that young people who read daily only on screen were almost twice as likely to be above average readers compared to those who read print or both (print and screen).
To understand why we should care about how young people read and not just whether they are reading, it helps to know a little about how the skill of reading evolved. “Humans were not born to read,” says Maryanne Wolf, director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University and author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Unlike the ability to understand and produce language, which under normal circumstances will develop according to a program dictated by our genes, the ability to read must be painstakingly acquired by each person. The “reading circuits” we build are recruited from brain structures that evolved for other purposes (and these circuits can be weak or robust depending on how they are used).
When readers are enjoying the experience to the fullest, the reading pace slows down.
The reader, immersed in his book, protected from distractions and in tune with the nuances of language, enters a state that the psychologist Víctor Nell, in a of the psychology of reading for pleasure, compared to a hypnotic trance. Nell found that when readers are enjoying the experience to the fullest, the pace of reading slows down. The combination of fast, fluid word decoding and slow, unhurried page progress gives readers time to enrich their reading with reflection, analysis, and their own memories and opinions. It also gives them time to establish an intimate relationship with the author.
This is not reading as many young people are knowing it. Its reading is pragmatic and instrumental. Those of us who have felt the pleasure of sitting down to read a book and feeling as if we were in there seeing everything from the eyes of the characters, can understand that not worrying about future generations reading deeply is depriving them of not only an incredible experience. , but also one that will equip them with important life skills.
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