“It takes a long time to read a book at the rate of four sentences per day. And it’s exhausting.”
Homo sapiens means the Wise Man — Homo means Human, and sapiens means wise or intelligent. We can also define a Homo sapien as a Thinking Man. But is our generation fitted into the correct species?
That’s a question. Human beings have stopped thinking. The idea of critical thinking and talking has completely vanished, leaving the brain as a vestigial organ.
And the absence of reading habit does play a huge role in this. Let’s see how.
We have observed a decline in reading comprehension across multiple generations. We engage in reading less, remember less of what we read, and find it challenging to participate in critical analysis. If this trend persists, we jeopardize the fundamental pillars of our society.
In the era of short-form content and viral media, a significant number of us have either lost — or are losing — the ability to concentrate and be patient with long, intricate texts. We browse and glance rather than read thoroughly. Our capacity to focus has diminished to just a few seconds.
Although technology has allowed for the extensive spread of information, it has also divided our thought processes. We are inundated with noise and sensationalism.
Clickbait titles and social media content target our feelings instead of our reason, rendering us prone to false information. We distribute articles without actually reading them, merely responding to eye-catching titles and summaries. The situation, subtleties, and precision no longer hold significance. Objective truth has taken a backseat to personal feelings and primal urges.
EFFECTS ON OUR POLITICAL DECISIONS:
Without understanding what we read, we are unable to thoughtfully analyze information and make informed choices. We forfeit the capacity to deeply examine problems, engage in critical thinking, appreciate various viewpoints, identify logical errors, and assess evidence. Our views are influenced more by sensational rhetoric and confirmation bias than by actual facts. We take in information, yet we do not genuinely absorb it. This undermines the essential pillars of a thriving democracy — an informed citizenry. It might be an oversimplification to claim that individuals have completely lost their reading comprehension abilities. To be more precise — we have lost the ability to use close reading on contemporary media. We continue to possess the fundamental cognitive skills, yet we fail to utilize them. We respond to politically charged YouTube videos rather than observing, analyzing, and challenging them.
THINGS BEYOND INTELLECT:
We browse online content to discover opinions that reinforce our biases rather than exploring alternative viewpoints. We permit our thoughts to be swayed by dominant voices on social media instead of logical discussion. We have grown mentally sluggish, neglecting to utilize our analytical abilities. Reading goes beyond being merely a practical skill. It introduces us to fresh concepts, cultures, and experiences. Books enable us to envision different lives, broadening our perspectives, intensive, reflective reading stimulates our cognitive abilities. It enhances concentration, analytical abilities, and abstract reasoning.
Reading fosters empathy and compassion. By means of narratives, we acquire emotional understanding of the human experience. A decline in critical reading impedes cognitive development and emotional awareness.
LOW ATTENTION SPAN:
The decline in reading comprehension is a complicated issue. It cannot be simplified to phrases such as “technology harmed our attention spans.” Blaming Gen Z overlooks the widespread susceptibility to poorly organized misinformation shown by older users. These simplistic viewpoints do not reflect the subtleties. We cannot overlook the fact that digital platforms currently prevail in contemporary media environments. Although these technologies facilitate the swift dissemination of information, they prefer concise content tailored to capture attention.
Social media platforms create a conductive environment for the spread of misinformation particularly emotionally driven untruths. Complex, truthful ideas find it challenging to penetrate the noise. The contemporary digital media landscape conditions our minds in manners contrary to deep, reflective reading. The continuous flow of stimuli breaks our focus into small scatter pieces. We juggle multiple apps and websites, encountering various ideas yet understanding hardly any. We quickly glance at various posts without exploring any subject in depth.
Alerts disrupts our focus with outside cues. Clickbait titles exploit feelings to seize curiosity. Algorithms determine exactly what content captivates us. Before long, our minds become conditioned to seek out distractions. Even more concerning, this settling frequently conceals insipid content behind captivating designs tailored to enhance time on the site. We tolerate dull, monotonous videos simply to find out their results. we cannot ignore attractive individuals dispensing trivial guidance. Pages filled with advertisements and trackers undermine our ability to focus.
Our focus is converted into profit to benefit those who excel at diversion. In the meantime, long texts rich in meaningful context find it hard to compete. Their interfaces are crafted not for addiction but for fostering enlightening discussions. They honor reader’s autonomy rather than trapping them with algorithms. Their makers prioritize truth over clicks. However, these heavens of profound reading seem more and more alien to contemporary minds that are used to ongoing sensory stimulation.
Research shows that individuals who frequently multitask find it difficult to ignore distractions and concentrate on tasks that require significant cognitive effort. Individuals who engage with a lot of online content explore widely but have shallower knowledge.
