If you are being asked "How much do you read daily?" or "When do you read?", you would probably answer like this, "Um...I have no idea" or "During my commute to school of course". These questions introduce a new phenomenon sweeping all over the world - Micro-reading.
Image: The U.S. Army
Micro-reading is a brand-new term you may not have heard of, but an accustomed practice you engage in every day. With the emergence of weblog ten-something years ago, human beings used to write in prose consisting of hundreds or thousands words for expressing. However, following the worldwide popularity of Facebook, Twitter, and even Weibo in Mainland China, we tend to share content, no exception for emotion, information, or trivial matters, on social networking websites in shrinked text. For example, it is restricted to 140 characters in every single tweet on Twitter. This practice is also known as Micro-blogging which differs from traditional weblogs in that its content is much smaller in actual size. Back on topic, Micro-reading refers to a new form of reading, which relies on new media. It is characterized as shrinked and small in number of words, like Micro-blogging. In our fast-paced world, in particular for Hong Kong, micro-reading is commonplace. We spend our rubbish time to read news, email, or micro-blog on any electronic gadgets, which can be associated with fast food in reading. The rubbish time I mentioned above may be the time you are commuting, waiting for lift, on the escalator, waiting your meal to be served, and so on. You may also observe people watching YouTube, updating her status on Facebook, or Reading news from Apple Daily on train. This article may not explain well, but this is what Micro-reading is.
However, there is doubt that it was induced at the same time as Micro-blogging did. To be precise, I would say it occurred at the time at which internet emerged. Accompanying the popularity of the Internet, every user has an equal chance to express. And this information explosion brings to loads of content converging on the mind of human being. For instance, there are more than 1.5 million pieces of content shared daily on Facebook, and each of them can clock up an average of 150 friends! Some scholars termed this as Information Overload. But why do information overload makes us engage in micro-reading?
From psychological perspective, with tons of messages available, we always unconsciously apply what is called selective attention to filter out any distractions. In short, we only pay attention to what interests us and requires less effort from us. And yet, not every single piece of content we receive is interesting to us. Then how can we tell the exceptional case of uninteresting content? Let's move on to the next discipline - "How do advertisers grab your attention?". Advertisers make every message as attractive as possible, namely lesser words, brighter colours, exaggeration and so on, in order to gain your attention regardless of your interest. This printed ad may be how they work in a sense of "As attractive as possible". Hence, from the opportunity for everyone to be creator on the Internet to writing in most "attractive" way to draw audience's attention, that is exactly what most of the new media creators do and why we read in such mode.
Image: SparkCBC
However, there is doubt that it was induced at the same time as Micro-blogging did. To be precise, I would say it occurred at the time at which internet emerged. Accompanying the popularity of the Internet, every user has an equal chance to express. And this information explosion brings to loads of content converging on the mind of human being. For instance, there are more than 1.5 million pieces of content shared daily on Facebook, and each of them can clock up an average of 150 friends! Some scholars termed this as Information Overload. But why do information overload makes us engage in micro-reading?
From psychological perspective, with tons of messages available, we always unconsciously apply what is called selective attention to filter out any distractions. In short, we only pay attention to what interests us and requires less effort from us. And yet, not every single piece of content we receive is interesting to us. Then how can we tell the exceptional case of uninteresting content? Let's move on to the next discipline - "How do advertisers grab your attention?". Advertisers make every message as attractive as possible, namely lesser words, brighter colours, exaggeration and so on, in order to gain your attention regardless of your interest. This printed ad may be how they work in a sense of "As attractive as possible". Hence, from the opportunity for everyone to be creator on the Internet to writing in most "attractive" way to draw audience's attention, that is exactly what most of the new media creators do and why we read in such mode.
A famous Transport for London's ad regarding Selective Attention
New media has been certainly shaping how we think, we do, we relate, and we give meaning to everything in our life. Here I wish to reveal the factual issue that how we read has been altered. Micro-reading can be associated with an inevitable trend, which I cannot say it is good or not. But please do not overlook its impact. It shapes not only the numbers of words in content, but also how we spend our time.
"It's easy to miss something you're not looking for"
