We are a generation of scanners

Folks, I’ll keep this brief; I have a hunch you won’t read every word here, but that’s okay. We are becoming a generation of scanners, taking in titles instead of full paragraphs, bullet lists instead of full prose, bolded words instead of complete thoughts.

Just think, when was the last time you fully read something like a newspaper, web page, document or blog post, from start to finish?

I bet it wasn’t recently.

A 2008 study found that on average, a webpage reader only has time, at most, to read 28% of the material on the page. Most likely they will take in only 20% of the information presented.

(PS – You made 25% of the way – keep on going!)

I’ve noticed that my reading habits have changed over time, too.

As a student I had an overwhelming amount of information to digest so I learned shortcuts and prioritization techniques to make life easier. Those techniques have proved to be extremely important as the information that is available to me keeps increasing and seemingly, my ability to find time to read this wealth of information keeps decreasing.

More often than not, I look at my google reader with 100+ new items, my twitter feed with endless updates, and the piles of unread magazines, books and articles that are scattered around my condo, and I just don’t know where to start. So instead of reading thoroughly, I start scanning for the bits and pieces I find relevant, interesting and meaningful.

And I’m not the only one. According to Carol Phillips, Millennials have been noted to be a generation of scanners. We like quick hits of information, instant conclusions, summarized findings, and it all has to come in a format that lets us get what we need, and move on to other things quickly.

I worry that the quality of information changes when we change the way in which we present the information.

Will newspapers begin to report in bullet point lists only? Will websites become more visual and provide less text in the future? Can short basic words replace long and complex words and still provide the same meaning?

It’s obvious to me that our tendency to scan information is already making changes to the way information is presented.

I prefer to read blog posts that have titles bolded and paragraphs that are short and to the point. I prefer facts to be present in a list, not in prose and I always prefer a graphical visual when data is involved.

But, what works the best?

I’m sure the jury is still out on that.

What I do know is that although style is evolving, substance still trumps everything.