I was reading my newsfeed the other day in Seesmic Desktop.  I realized I often read from the top (most recent) and work my way down until I either run out of time or start recognizing items.  This results in some strange results for me:

  1. I ended up reading threads of related items in reverse order sometimes, unless I skip down more and then read up.
  2. I find myself only caring out current stories – sometimes remembering a news item I would like to no more about – but since it’s not recent I don’t see it.
  3. Sometimes I find myself skipping (also in Facebook) links to articles/blogs (i.e. depth) as I don’t want to take the time to read them – just give me a quick bite of information…

So the interesting effect is that if it’s not recent it’s as if it doesn’t matter.  I’m not reading/learning what’s most important – but what’s most recent.  Maybe this is a larger trend in media – that started with “headline” news.

But for me when I think about it it’s a little disturbing – if it’s recent and short it’s real – otherwise it doesn’t exist.  I’m robbing myself of  critical thinking, of learning opportunities.  Maybe that’s why I still read real physical books (also because they are free at the library) to counterbalance that trend…

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