I'm two-thirds of the way through The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicolas Carr. The book contains good journalism, among other things, and Carr cites studies to prove his points and some of those studies looked into the sort of reading people do when they go online.
In short, they don't, at least not in the traditional sense. Instead, they skim, with eyes following a kind of "F" pattern. They read the first line or two, drop down and read another line or two, and then zip straight to the bottom. Readers spend about 18 to 25 seconds on each page.
That being the case, it really might tempt traditional writers to ask, "Why bother writing for the internet at all?" Maybe it's better to spend their time and energy writing for the dwindling number of people who still read hard copy books. Those folks, it is hoped, will take the time for "deep reading," as Carr puts it, and as a result cause new material to wind up in their long-term memories. (By contrast, those who web surf absorb little of the content they akim.)
Anyhow, Carr makes a complex and vital, yet readable, argument, so please read his book. (But wait, you never got this far down the page, did you?)
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