Internet makes me a slow reader

Is the internet changing the way we read?

I was talking about this to someone recently. I pointed out that you have to write differently for the web; lengthy academic style articles will not work.

This comment was met with disdain.

"Internet makes you lazy, is it?" was the curt reply.

Not really, it actually makes you more hyperactive and less focused.

And this is the very issue covered in detail by Nicholas Carr in the article: Is Google Making Us Stupid.

Extract from article:

I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances—literary types, most of them—many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. Some of the bloggers I follow have also begun mentioning the phenomenon. Scott Karp, who writes a blog about online media, recently confessed that he has stopped reading books altogether. “I was a lit major in college, and used to be [a] voracious book reader,” he wrote. “What happened?” He speculates on the answer: “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

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