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Mark Twain Versus The Tweet

May 06, 2014
by Caroline Miller
bi-lateral literacy, computer reading versus book reading, Maryanne Wolfe
4 Comments

I was comparing notes about a book with a friend the other day and learned I’d missed a key element of the plot. I admit, I didn’t like the story and had scanned parts of it, which may account for my oversight. Then again, maybe not. New research about our plastic brains suggests working on computers affects the way we read.

 The question came to light when heads of several English Departments around the country began emailing brain researcher Maryanne Wolfe of Tufts University. (See blog 8/2012) Their quandary was that too many students were having trouble reading the classics. The convoluted sentences in novels by George Elliot, Proust, or Henry James, for example, were proving too challenging for the Twitter generation accustomed, as it is, to sentences composed of no more than 140-characters. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/serious-reading-takes-a-hit-from-online-scanning-and-skimming-researchers-say/2014/04/06/088028d2-b5d2-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend

What Wolfe and other researchers have begun to suspect is that the brain reads computer screens differently from the way it reads books. Computer reading invites vertical scanning, the way we do when we scroll through our email messages and make quick decision about what to delete and what to keep. Even text reading is different because it’s often dotted with links that break our concentration and invite us look elsewhere, as in the example above. Reading a book is a linear process. We read not only across the page but by turning pages.

 Researchers are quick to point out there are advantages and disadvantages to both vertical and linear reading and in today’s world we must train our brains to be “bi-laterally” literate. Scanning quickly for information has its place as does reading for depth.

Convincing the younger generation to love the convoluted sentences of Proust or James may be a hard sell. But like eating broccoli, developing a taste for the complex may be more important to us than we realize. A few years ago, a study of aging nuns revealed a critical link between the ability to read and write long sentences and incidences of Alzheimer’s. (See Blog 2/27/11) Nuns with the capacity to handle intricate thoughts were the least likely to develop the disease. Preferring Twain to tweets gave them an edge, apparently.

twitter birds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Courtesy of luisgalarza.blogspot.com)

 

 

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4 Comments
  1. Wendy Ice May 6, 2014 at 12:26 pm Reply
    I'll be sharing this blog. Fascinating stuff. Last night I posted a very long update about the progress of our "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" book at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1954507197/alice-in-wonderland-book-illustrated-by-david-dela/posts/826431 I wondered whether *anyone* would read the whole thing, so I put key sentences in boldface to accommodate those who preferred to skim. I've received a lot of positive response from readers who did wade through it all, but it would be interesting to see an age breakdown. Did anyone under thirty make it through? Thanks Caroline for another great blog post!
    • Caroline Miller May 6, 2014 at 1:42 pm Reply
      Aren't you a sharpie for figuring out the new reading habits of the young without a PHD? Congratulations on your intuitive pickup. Yes, it would be interesting to see what the age breakdown of the twitter responses to your announcement. As for the Alice "Adventures in Wonderland" book, knowing the quality work of your company, Bad Monkey Productions, I don't doubt fans read your material from start to finish if it were a gossip column.
  2. Candee Jones May 6, 2014 at 2:45 pm Reply
    I read your post on Twain vs Tweet and found it most interesting. And it made me smile. I am a book lover. Books not Kindle, etc. I have found on more than one occasion that books on Kindle (or another such device) do not necessarily contain the entire book. Sometimes what is left out is important to the plot (in my opinion) and sometimes important to simply understanding what is meant to be understood (in my opinion). However having said that I once ventured into a Kindle-read because the book I needed for my book club was not available in a timely manner at the library. I found myself skimming. Yes, I did. I also found that I missed some salient points. They were not left out in this case, I simply missed them. I also found that once on that device, I read 15 other books in a short time before I returned the device to its owner. Normally it would take me months to read 15 books. Enough said. :) Thank you for an interesting post!
    • Caroline Miller May 6, 2014 at 4:20 pm Reply
      Hello Candee, Thanks for dropping by. I didn't know the electronic devices were short changing readers and in its way, doing a disservice to writers like myself who labor over every word. To think some anonymous person is deciding what to cut, something I don't even allow my editor to do without my approval is a revelation. Thank you for letting me know.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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