Reading on social media - faster or slower

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Of course, I've actually tried it. My sole experience with it isn't from reading a wikipedia link while trying to find something wrong with it so I can argue about it.

I have, long enough to see it is crap, for me personally. No enjoyment, just pure hard work. Same with turning up the speed on audibooks. "Turn up the speed they said, it will be fun they said."

Something goes in faster than you can pronounce (not out loud, but said/thought to yourself) and you lose out. You can actually test it yourself - try to talk as fast as you can making up a story on how your day went. Won't be able to get very far as your working memory for speech is used up faster than you can refill it. And that is stuff you already know. Comprehending something new goes a little slower.

Now you might argue that some speed reading techniques (not limited to RSVP) try to bypass your speech buffer of approximately 2 seconds, because it slows you down and is not necessary. Well, in a way it is necessary - try to remember sounds that you have heard, but cannot pronounce. Recalling memory depends on your speech buffer as well. You don't even remember conversations in the language your originally heard them, but in whichever language your are currently thinking in. When I remember things from my former life in Germany everything gets explained in English, the people even talk English.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

I have, long enough to see it is crap, for me personally. No enjoyment, just pure hard work.

I'm sorry to hear that. What software did you use?

EDIT: Also, why was it "crap"? What problems did you run into?

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

I'm sorry to hear that. What software did you use?

EDIT: Also, why was it "crap"? What problems did you run into?

That I felt like being bombarded with words. It was an app that lined up the words with some colored (red?) mark on android - only and always one word at a time. It worked well with shorter words, but when they got longer than 3 syllables the time was too short. It may have something to do with my pattern recognition not working well for English. Unrelated to RSVP is a problem for me distinguishing between "where" "there" and "they're", because they are the same to me. I see the word, hear it, and know it doesn't make sense. Where - oh wait, it is the thingy that asks me what direction it is. There - oh, already found what I was looking for, no longer a question. They're - I give up and try to simply pronounce it "theyare" as to not confuse it with the other two.

Speed goes up, and things blurr together - what was that? Oh something car and fast. Slow it down so I can understand, and will be slower than even normal reading, but harder to decipher and put together as a whole. More like someone telling you the news instead of actually being there. I want to be there when I read.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

How so? Some of us enjoy reading faster.

I don't want to worry how fast I'm reading. I just want to enjoy what I'm reading. It seems like (to me) worrying about my reading speed would get in the way of enjoying that book. But everyone's different.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I don't want to worry how fast I'm reading. I just want to enjoy what I'm reading. It seems like (to me) worrying about my reading speed would get in the way of enjoying that book. But everyone's different.

Ditto.
The only reason I can think of for trying to read faster would be if I were in school and needed to get through a lot of material in a limited time.
At this point in my life I read fiction for enjoyment and whatever my reading speed is, it's good enough.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

That I felt like being bombarded with words. It was an app that lined up the words with some colored (red?) mark on android - only and always one word at a time. It worked well with shorter words, but when they got longer than 3 syllables the time was too short. It may have something to do with my pattern recognition not working well for English.

First off, let me just applaud you for being able to read English as a second language. I'm planning on learning German specifically to read some German books in their original but I doubt I'll ever get to the point where I can use speed reading software with a foreign language. That's pretty awsome.

Second, I'm not sure of the app but there are ways to adjust that, "chunk size" is the term used I believe. There's also settings to adjust the pause time for pronunciation.

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Unrelated to RSVP is a problem for me distinguishing between "where" "there" and "they're", because they are the same to me. I see the word, hear it, and know it doesn't make sense. Where - oh wait, it is the thingy that asks me what direction it is. There - oh, already found what I was looking for, no longer a question. They're - I give up and try to simply pronounce it "theyare" as to not confuse it with the other two.

Speed goes up, and things blurr together - what was that? Oh something car and fast. Slow it down so I can understand, and will be slower than even normal reading, but harder to decipher and put together as a whole. More like someone telling you the news instead of actually being there. I want to be there when I read.

That's fair, have you tried it in German? It does take some getting used to, I didn't start it at 550, I went from 350 to 400 to 450, stayed there for a while and slowly bumped it up.

Anyway, sorry to hear you didn't like it, personally I love it but that's me. At least you tried it.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I don't want to worry how fast I'm reading. I just want to enjoy what I'm reading. It seems like (to me) worrying about my reading speed would get in the way of enjoying that book. But everyone's different.

Just to be clear, I don't use it for everything I read. But if I need to get though a thick book for whatever reason in a shorter amount of time, it works wonders for me.

However I accept that I am far different from the norm.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

That's part of what causes you to lose reading speed.

I already read at around about 600ish (depending on the material) without trying to read quickly, from my calculations. I'm happy with my reading speed, thanks.

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Well, if the shoe doesn't fit, don't force it on your foot. I do think it's "esoteric" for most since most have never even heard of it.

Tell me, what RSVP software did you use? If your need or want is to read faster, RSVP yields far more suporior results than adjusting margins.

I've tried it on a webpage, I've tried it on an app, way back when people were starting to talk about it, and again recently. I don't know whether it gave me an edge on speed, but I found it not just unenjoyable, but downright unpleasant. It was, however, not at all difficult to get a handle on, and my dislike of it is not based in a lack of understanding.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

First off, let me just applaud you for being able to read English as a second language. I'm planning on learning German specifically to read some German books in their original but I doubt I'll ever get to the point where I can use speed reading software with a foreign language. That's pretty awsome.

German is not an easy language to learn - or for that matter any language that has a specific gender for each noun (it is either a he, she, or it). Some make sense, others do not. You just have to know them - similar to remembering irregular verb forms in English.

Due to availability and usually lower price I don't read German books in German anymore, I prefer the translated version. It is always refreshing to run into untranslated words for locations or street names and such.

Second, I'm not sure of the app but there are ways to adjust that, "chunk size" is the term used I believe. There's also settings to adjust the pause time for pronunciation.

That's fair, have you tried it in German? It does take some getting used to, I didn't start it at 550, I went from 350 to 400 to 450, stayed there for a while and slowly bumped it up.

Never crossed my mind. I haven't seen or read a German book in many many years.

Anyway, sorry to hear you didn't like it, personally I love it but that's me. At least you tried it.

I am not sorry. It made me realize that hurrying to the end doesn't fit me. Even while reading slow it is interesting how many books you can read if you simply read whenever possible.

[tomfyhr]

My personal experience is that I procrastine more when I read a physical book, but I do not procrastinate at all when I read an article on a web.

Anyone know why that is?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

My personal experience is that I procrastine more when I read a physical book, but I do not procrastinate at all when I read an article on a web.

Anyone know why that is?

I'm guessing it's because you don't like to read books – or you consider it "work." You don't have to invest much time or effort into reading an article, so it's easier to just jump right in.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

My personal experience is that I procrastine more when I read a physical book, but I do not procrastinate at all when I read an article on a web.

Anyone know why that is?

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'm guessing it's because you don't like to read books – or you consider it "work." You don't have to invest much time or effort into reading an article, so it's easier to just jump right in.

You could test this theory by attempting to read a whole book on an electronic device, in order to determine if it's the format (electronic vs paper) or the length (article vs book). (Or try reading an article in a paper magazine.) Of course it's also important that the book is a subject or genre that interests you.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

I am not sorry. It made me realize that hurrying to the end doesn't fit me. Even while reading slow it is interesting how many books you can read if you simply read whenever possible.

Just a note, it's not about "hurrying to the end". It's about having an option to input information quickly when desired.

[sealbeater]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

My personal experience is that I procrastine more when I read a physical book, but I do not procrastinate at all when I read an article on a web.

Anyone know why that is?

Probably because you can do other things on the computer while you read, whereas when you are reading a physical book, time has to be set aside for exclusively that.

[tomfyhr]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

You could test this theory by attempting to read a whole book on an electronic device, in order to determine if it's the format (electronic vs paper) or the length (article vs book). (Or try reading an article in a paper magazine.) Of course it's also important that the book is a subject or genre that interests you.

When I read article using physical paper, I read much slower. But when I Read articles on the web (electronic devices), I read much faster.

My pulse also increased when I read physical papers, but my pulse decreasd when I read on the web.

Anyone know why?