Wednesday 17 February 2016

Pros And Cons Of Hyper Speed Reading

By John Clark


There aren't many people in the world who would decline if offered the opportunity to increase the speed with which they read long chunks of text. With the skill of hyper speed reading, it's easier to obtain and process all the information available in books and on the web. Some people are born with it, but now it can also be learned.

Whether for personal, professional, or academic purposes, reading lengthy texts will always be a daunting task. In these situations, the biggest temptation is to simply skim over the text and hope that what your eyes are catching is enough to get the plot, pass the test, or make a successful pitch. This could work with a little luck, but why throw your cards into the wind when there's another option?

Unlike applications that simply allow readers to access the text on their gadgets, speed reading apps change the user interface entirely. Instead of being able to see the whole text, the words are flashed continuously, one at a time. This minimizes the movement (and distraction) of the eyes from skimming or scanning the page, which actually affects the comprehension process.

With apps that flash words one at a time, the words are strategically aligned so that our eyes stay focused. This allows our minds to process the information instantaneously, instead of having to spend time devouring and processing each word as our eyes reach them. Therefore, the time needed to read a book is significantly reduced.

Having the ability to read quickly is especially beneficial for individuals who are working and studying at the same time. With the overwhelming amount of work to do, training to read quickly helps to accomplish everything without jeopardizing quality of understanding. It also helps to maintain concentration, which will undoubtedly also speed up the entire studying process.

An additional benefit of this is that as a side effect, the muscles in the eyes are strengthened with constant training. This may sound like a negligible and unimportant benefit, but it's actually very useful. It's not unheard of for some people who work or study for lengthy periods to experience pain from straining their eyes too hard or too long. Over time, the muscles will strengthen and the pain will reduce.

However, there are some who stand on the other side of the spectrum. They argue that speed reading is not a good thing. Experiencing these benefits will take a lot of effort and time, which not everyone has the luxury to spend on reading.

Having only one word flash before the eyes may speed up reading pace, but comprehension may be affected as a result. Everyone is different; some may need to rely on surrounding context clues to fully understand the text. And what happens if the reader blinks and misses a word? More time is wasted trying to figure it out, and that could have a domino effect.

It all boils down to the experience that readers are looking for when reading an article. Some prefer to bask in the experience of what the imagination can provide when reading at a leisurely pace. However, others may need the speed to help them breeze through reading assignments.




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