How to Boost Your Reading Comprehension by Reading
Smarter and More Conscientiously
With all of the things out there to
read on the internet—all of the blogs we want to keep up with and all of the
news funneled to us every day—how can you make sure you read each item in a way
that really enriches your life? The short answer: You can't, not without help,
anyway. Here's how you can stop, refocus, and change the way you read so you'll
take more away from it.
Step
1: Reconsider What Reading Really Means to You
If you spend any time reading the web, you're
probably at least somewhat aware of the dysfunctional relationship many of us
(and possibly yourself included) have with reading. Many of us are so quick to
have our say on a topic that we fail to read the articles we're commenting on,
or you've made the mistake of launching into a dissertation yourself when the
issue you have has already been addressed. Conflicting articles, research that
points in different directions, people being fooled by scams and websites that
have their own bias, magazine subscriptions piling up on our coffee tables—it
seems like even though there's more information available to us, we're
absorbing less and less of it.
In fact, it's really our
relationship with reading and our ability to absorb information on a given
topic that's at issue. Do you read the magazines and blogs you do because you
really love their content and appreciate what they have to say? Or do you have
a love/hate relationship with what you read, where you find yourself more
irritated than thrilled when you open your most visited sites, or commenting only
to say how much you dislike something instead of offering your own perspective
or opinions? If reading seems like a chore to you, something you feel like you have
to do to keep up, then your relationship with your media needs help. We're
going to tackle that relationship one step at a time, and hopefully help you
build a more positive, proactive approach to reading what you do on the
internet, form your own informed ideas and opinions, and come out the other
side committed to truly comprehending the things you take the time to read and
enjoy.
Step
2: Stop, Refocus, and Build a Healthy Relationship with Reading
Stop and take stock of how you get
your information. I asked Clay Johnson, author of The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption, about where this plague of poor reading comprehension came
from, and he pointed out that the issue isn't the amount of information
available, or even the technology we have to bring it to our eyes, it's that
our relationship with reading needs re-evaluation. Here are three ways to stop
and take stock of that relationship, and see whether what you read is really helping
you think critically:
- How much do you consume? Are you trying to read every popular tech blog on the web? How many do you really engage on, comment at, or share stories from? Perhaps you're casting your net wide because you don't want to miss anything, or because you feel like you have to read someone to stay informed. Let go of that perception, and consider trimming your feeds to the sites you really enjoy, communities you're actively involved in, and voices that inform and challenge your perceptions.
- Who do you read? Are your feeds full of voices that all sound the same? When was the last time you read an article you disliked, not because of a typo or because you didn't like the topic, but because the subject matter made you uncomfortable and forced you to think about your opinion? Using politics as an example, Clay notes "If you're wondering why Washington can't get anything done, this model of information consumption is why: because one half of the country can choose to only hear what it wants to believe, they find the other side increasingly hard to get along with. This isn't just political though—politics is just an obvious example. The breadth of information available, skimming or long-form, hurts our ability to dive deep into the answers to our questions if we don't challenge ourselves to focus." Instead, include different voices in your media consumption, and use those perspectives to inform your own.
- Is reading really the best way for you to learn? Are you spending a lot of time reading things that you feel like you should be up to date on, but just aren't absorbing? For example, for years I subscribed to a number of SecurityFocus mailing lists because I worked in IT, was interested in security, and felt like I should be up to speed on security news and part of a community of security-minded professionals. Unfortunately, I never read the messages, eventually switched to digests to cut down on the volume, and never read the digests either. I learned everything I needed to know about security from some of my favorite security blogs and my colleagues instead. If you're spending time skimming or reading a site, mailing list, book, or journal because you feel like you should get something from it, when there's a more effective option for your learning style available, put down the reading material now and don't look back.
To that last point, reading the
written word isn't the only viable way to absorb information, and as long as we
assume it is, the longer we do ourselves a disservice and make it more
difficult to learn new things and expose ourselves to new ideas. Clay explains,
"I think we have to let go of our dogmatic relationship with
"reading." In the face of new technologies, being attached to the
written word is a bit like being attached to vinyl records. Now I'm sure I've
irritated both avid readers and avid audiophiles with this statement, but I
think what we're really after here isn't reading comprehension but subject
matter understanding and critical thinking."
"Reading is but one thing that
helps us acquire and build those skills, and one one thing that requires those
skills. But it isn't the only thing that requires those skills - it's just one
way we consume information. We tend to attach some nostalgia to
"reading" as the ultimate form of information intake, superior in
some kind of intellectual way to all others, but can we really say that a kid
can learn more out of a textbook than from the Khan Academy? I'm not so
sure."
Step
3: Choose the Things You Spend Your Time Reading Wisely, and Include Multiple
Voices
Next, reconsider the sources of
information you expose yourself to. Clay pointed out that while it's easy to
assume technology has a major role in how and where we absorb information, it
doesn't define what and how we read, it's just a means to get the information
in front of us. Instead, he notes, we have the ability to be much more
selective about what we read, which can lead to difficulty really understanding
a topic. "Beneath the surface though, I think something else is changing
our comprehension, and that's choice." He continues, "what's
different now than what used to be is selection and diversity, and I think that
our ability to select only the information we want to hear has a really strong
affect on our reading comprehension - it allows us to seek out information that
confirms us more than information that informs us, making the synthesis of
ideas very difficult."
When you look through your feeds,
check to see if you're getting news from multiple trusted sources with
differing viewpoints. Regardless of the topic you're passionate about, whether
it's technology, politics, world news, economics, science, or medicine, focus
on the topics you want to read about, discard the others that you skim
or read because you feel like you have to (or that you get nothing out of), and
then select a few trusted sources with differing viewpoints to help you stay on
top of your preferred topics.
You'll find that as you read and
expose yourself to differing viewpoints, you'll begin to build your own
thoughts and opinions, form your own ideas, and even see the logic behind
perspectives that differ from your own, even if you disagree. Plus, by
eliminating the topics and feeds that cause you so much stress, you begin to
transform your relationship with what you do read into something more positive,
instead of an exercise in cleaning out an inbox.
The key here however is to make sure
you pick trusted sources with different voices, and rein in your information
fire hose to the topics you're really interested in and communities you're
passionate about. Your goal at this stage is to go a mile deep and an inch
wide—as in, stop trying to read every tech blog on the web and stick to the
ones you really enjoy reading and challenge your opinions about the technology
you love (and the technology you hate).
Step
4: Read Conscientiously, and Take Time to Absorb and Reflect on What You Read
Once you've whittled down the amount
of information you absorb to the things you're really passionate about and the
things you really want to read and engage with, it's time to actually read
those things. Clay has some suggestions: "the number one piece of advice I
have is to consume consciously and deliberately. Transform your relationship
with information consumption into something that you do proactively, rather
than something that happens to you. Trimming the amount of data coming through
your feeds and bookmarks doesn't mean that you should just spend less
time reading, unless you plan to read less and learn more through other
methods. Instead, the goal is to give you the freedom to really appreciate the
things you do read about. For example, instead of reading an article and
hammering out a knee-jerk reaction in the comments section so you can hurry up
and move to the next unread item in your feed reader, this kind of conscious
consumption allows you to stop, think over what you just read, seek out more
information about topics mentioned that you don't understand very well, think
about the author's viewpoint, and come to your own informed conclusion. Then
you can engage in the discussion if you see fit, or even start your own
conversation by writing an opposing or corroborating piece elsewhere, perhaps
even on your own blog.
Conscientiously reading the topics
you're passionate about from a variety of voices gives you the room to think
critically about what you just read. When you free yourself from feeling like
opening your feed reader, inbox, or bookmarks folder is a chore to plow
through, you'll be in a better position to really appreciate what you read.
Step 5: Build a Flow Around
Thoughtful Reading
Changing your relationship with the
things you read isn't a one-time process. It doesn't require a ton of
maintenance, but it does require some vigilance. After all, most of us didn't
consciously try to get to the point where we read more than we can absorb or
think critically about, so it's easy to slip back into old habits.
Before you add a new site to your
feed reader, make sure you ask yourself whether you're reading the site because
you really think it's useful and you really want to engage with the author(s)
or the community. If you can't honestly say yes, you're probably adding it
because you think it's a site you should be reading, which is a no-no.
Also, if you do add new sites and feeds to your newsreader or aggregator and
find you haven't clicked on them once, haven't read their articles in ages, or
don't get anything valuable from them, don't be shy with the axe. Cut them off
before they start to nip at the corners of your attention span. Don't lose
sight of your goal: to stay free enough to really comprehend and analyze the
things you spend your time reading, and to spend your time reading things that
enrich your life.
Extra
Credit: Share Your Thoughts, Add Your Own Ideas
All of these steps can help you cut
back on the volume of information you consume, target your reading to your
interests as opposed to your responsibilities, and use the time you saved to
think critically and come up with your own new ideas about the things you've
read. The next step is to take those ideas and share them with others, if you
see fit. Personally, one of the biggest benefits I derive from managing the
flow of information in my life as strictly as I do is that in addition to being
exposed to different ideas and having the time to really think them over, I
also have the time to come up with my own viewpoints and perspectives and share
them with others.
Sharing those ideas with other
people does something transformative for your reading comprehension. Instead of
simply being a content consumer, absorbing information where you can get
it, you become a content creator, offering up your own unique opinions
and ideas on a topic for others to read on their own. You're suddenly in the
same position as the people you read, wanting people to afford you the same
courtesy of reading, thinking, absorbing, and then sharing their own ideas and
alternatives (as opposed to rapid-fire reactions) and you're dependant on those
people for the same constructive reasoning and passionate engagement as you're
now involved in.
Even if you don't decide to add
writing to your reading and critical thinking flow, sharing your ideas and
thoughts about what you've read with others is a great way to enrich your
conversations, learn more about the people in your life, and grow based on
their ideas and opinions as well.
Footnote:
Don't Hate the Internet, Hate the Game
It would be easy to blame the
internet for what appears to be a trend in people with little information and a
lot to say, and in fact, some people have tried to claim that it's access to overwhelming
amounts of information at our fingertips that's making us less interested in
reading and absorbing that information and applying it to our world view. We don't agree, and we don't even think that the volume of
information available to us is the problem, either. A lot of people spend time
and money to disconnect, retreat to resorts with no internet access and out of
cellular range, and escape from their personal fire hoses of information
without realizing that they have complete control over the flow of water from
that hose at all times.
When
I asked Clay Johnson about whether the internet has a role to play here, he
pointed to a 2009 study by the University of California San Diego that says we're actually
reading three times more every day than we
did in 1980, and actually argued that the internet saved reading as we
know it. "I think we have to think carefully about this concept that
somehow our reading comprehension is actually suffering because of the
Internet, because it's fairly clear that we're reading a lot more," he
noted. One going theory is that we're trying to do too much at once and it's
multi-tasking that's killing our attention spans and ability to absorb what we
read. Clay noted that there may be something to that theory, but if it holds
water, it's not the internet's fault for presenting us with a lot of data to
pay attention to—in reality, it's the way we apply and prioritize that
information that needs adjustment, not the source of the information.
If anything, the wealth of
information on the internet and the discussion available in all corners on all
topics simply brings us face-to-face with something that's been happening for a
long time: a lot of people have a lot to say on topics they may not know very
much about. The internet just makes us aware of it because it's everywhere and
we're engaged in more discussions on more topics than ever before. In a time
where there's more information at our fingertips than there ever has been, it's
not the internet's fault that most of us have an unhealthy relationship with
reading and interacting with the things that we read.
One of the best things you can do for your reading
comprehension and for your own ability to think critically about the world
around you is to recognize how valuable you time really is, and spend it
reading the things that enrich your life. Take those lessons and topics, and
learn to focus on them by looking for more information, building your own ideas
off of them, and sharing those ideas with others.
These suggestions will help you get
started, and once you start, you'll find that your relationship with reading,
both online and offline, is a much more positive, enjoyable one, as opposed to
just another thing you have to check off your to-do list.
Clay Johnson is the author of the upcoming book The Information
Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption
http://lifehacker.com/5872944/how-to-boost-your-reading-comprehension-by-reading-smarter-and-more-conscientiously
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