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Originally Posted by latepaul
What experience has anyone else had with this? Do you think your reading style has changed? Can you still consume dense prose and convoluted sentences with relish? (assuming you ever did!)
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Originally Posted by Katsunami
Yes, I can; online stuff didn't change my reading, as far as I can see. IMHO the change in reading is not caused by online reading per se, but by the pace of life nowadays; or better, the pace of life which many people seem to find normal.
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Interesting perspective.
However for myself I have to say that I live at a very similar pace to you. I live alone, don't have a hectic social life and work a job where as far as it is in my power I work on one task at a time until I complete it. But I don't have a 20-hour attention span (I need sleep for a start) and I find it harder to get into denser books than I used to. I find it harder to motivate myself to read.
As I said in my initial post, I'd noticed this problem before and not blamed it on "the internet" but more on my memory. But I wonder if another part of the problem is that I've just read more. And the more I have to compare with the less good the new stuff seems. It usually seems OK but rarely more than that. (I call it the 7/10 problem as it's the most common rating I tend to give books)
I've tried over the last few years to really push myself to read. I've tried reading different genres. I've tried just picking stuff that seems fun. I've set reading goals. I've tried lots of things. And don't get me wrong I've read some good books and enjoyed them OK. I've read a few really good books. But at the end of the day, I'm more likely to reach for the TV remote than my ereader and I'm more likely to reach for my PC than that.
And I'm nervous admitting that because it seems like people see that as a moral failing but it's just where I'm at. I'd like to be a more engaged reader. I still get excited by the idea of books. I didn't set out to change but it seems I have. The problem is everything I've tried to reverse the trend seems to make it feel like a chore.
Oh well.