Text | China Science News, reporter Hu Minqi, Yuan Yixue, intern, Jing Xiaoqing
In the era of fragmented reading, do you really think that you understand the whole world after reading a few words?
"10 minutes to take you to understand history", "5 minutes to read a famous book", "3 minutes to watch a movie"...... While these contents were frantically clicked, they were criticized as "toxic".
Those who question fragmented reading are especially worried that this kind of superficial and unintelligible way of reading will ruin the group of students who are still studying. However, it is undeniable that as an efficient means of information search and acquisition, this way of reading has been deeply embedded in students' daily learning path and has become a part of diversified reading strategies.
On the occasion of World Book Day on April 23, many people are thinking about the role of fragmented reading for students, especially college students, does it really make people lose their ability to think, and how do young people who grow up with screens adapt to and cope with the adverse effects of fragmented reading?
The "sweetness" of fragmented reading
Recently, Wang Xiaoqing (pseudonym), a master's student in information arts who is about to graduate from a former "211 Project" university, finally tasted the "sweetness" of fragmented reading.
Prior to this, she was "old-school" and had hardly used fragmented reading to supplement her professional content. When she first came into contact with programming documents in the master's degree, she also borrowed a 5 cm thick data visualization book, as well as several large books on psychology experiment design and data analysis, which were stacked more than 30 cm high in total, and solemnly posed a learning posture.
Within a week, however, she quit – the lengthy and difficult text content made her give up the idea of teaching herself how to code, and she never opened the books again.
Later, in order to complete her graduation thesis, she had to face the "roadblock" of programming again. However, what she didn't expect was that fragmented reading lowered the threshold for professional learning and helped her overcome her fear of difficulties.
The reason is that she inadvertently swiped some short articles of the "Introduction to Overleaf Software" category on social platforms. So, through reading, self-study, and following the steps, she found that the process was similar to copy-and-paste fool operation, almost effortless.
For the first time, Wang Xiaoqing realized that this fragmented retrieval and learning method greatly reduced the psychological burden of her exposure to new knowledge and greatly improved the efficiency of transformation from knowledge to practice.
In fact, according to Guo Yingjian, a professor at Renmin University of Chinese and chairman of the Chinese and Foreign Reading Research Committee of the Chinese Association for the Comparative Study of English and Chinese, the application of fragmented reading in the daily learning of college students has become very common. Arguably, it is reshaping the way college students learn.
In his opinion, fragmented reading allows students to quickly access and access a wide range of information, especially when there is a need for some knowledge of multiple topics, and this ability to quickly navigate and sift through information is very useful. Moreover, fragmented reading is often accompanied by the use of electronic resources, and students can be exposed to various forms of learning materials, such as videos, blogs, forum posts, etc., which also increases the richness and interest of learning.
In addition, it is very important that fragmented reading encourages students to find and integrate information on their own. This can cultivate their self-directed learning and research skills, especially the ability to sift and judge when faced with large amounts of information.
Wang Huadong, a master's student in human-computer interaction at Tsinghua University, told China Science Daily that in the past, many people had some misunderstandings about fragmented reading, and would oppose it to complete and systematic reading. But his experience is that for effective learning, fragmented content is not a problem, what matters is the state of reading.
In fact, even if he reads a book, Wang Huadong usually doesn't read the whole book. He would look at the table of contents first, then skip some paragraphs, and maybe read two or three books in a few hours. Although this kind of reading is incomplete, it continues in a state of "self-centered" reading, which can be immersed in the realization of experience.
"If it is read with a purpose, I will include some high-quality articles on public accounts into the systematic reading. First of all, the fragmented time is used to screen, and after screening, it is labeled and collected. After that, when sorting out the knowledge of related topics in a certain period of time, I will read the materials while flipping through the books, and combine the articles I have collected from the official account to read and study intensively. Wang Huadong believes that the more "strong" readers can quickly bring fragmented information into their original knowledge system when dealing with it.
Wang Xiaoqing also noticed that the students around her would consciously "manage" their fragmented reading content. For example, many students have established multiple personal WeChat accounts and added them to the address book of the main WeChat, with the star at the top all year round. This kind of "VIP" account is a kind of "folder" that classifies and summarizes the fragmented reading content, and when they encounter a short article that inspires them, they will share it with different account chat boxes according to the nature of the short article, and collect it so that they can summarize and organize it when they have knowledge needs on related topics.
"People who can read and learn will direct all the fragmented content to a purpose, and immerse themselves in that purpose, and because of this purpose, all the fragmented content will be connected together and become an inseparable part, and at the same time it will be constantly enriched. According to Li Zhichun, a young teacher at Zhejiang College of Tongji University, this kind of fragmented reading is like a form of "self-organization".
However, it is not easy to achieve this ideal state of reading. Wang Xiaoqing said that she didn't find a little way until she was a graduate student. "The reason for this change is that after the guidance of the four-year undergraduate professional system course, we were able to initially build our own 'reading map', and when fragmented information poured in, we could know relatively clearly which part of the content system this information belonged to, without getting lost in the massive text. ”
Challenge the existing education model
The content of fragmented reading can be roughly divided into knowledge and opinions, and Su Zhan, an associate professor at the School of Humanities at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, attaches more importance to the ideas of articles or videos. In his view, knowledge is empirical facts, which have been verified, while perspectives are different, and open-ended views are somewhat enlightening. However, this kind of enlightenment can only play a role if the individual has a certain academic foundation, otherwise it is easy to be carried away by others.
This also means that if students are not trained in professional thinking methods, or are not familiar with certain fields, it is easy to take other people's ideas as their own and other people's thoughts as their own. This is the negative effect of fragmented reading. Su Zhan explained that this kind of situation of being influenced by other people's views and not being able to put forward his own new thinking is called "picking up people's teeth and wisdom".
In this regard, Wu Yuejia, a graduate student of the School of Humanities of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, has the experience that fragmented reading brings convenience to students in form, but it does make people lazy from the level of thinking.
"Reading a book in its entirety is a process of 'active absorption', which is more conducive to the development of our thinking, the cultivation of imagination and creativity, and the exercise of critical thinking and logical thinking. Reading fragmented knowledge and opinions is a process of 'passive reception', and it is difficult to dig connections between these trivial contents, to develop deep thinking, and even if there is thinking, there is no context to respond to it, and it is difficult to form a critical view on a particular topic or issue. ”
Su Zhan believes that fragmented reading is not a "bad thing", but a new challenge, especially to the existing education model.
"Not only university education, but also basic education should allow students to receive thinking training to improve their independent thinking ability, critical ability, and logical analysis ability. Su Zhan told China Science Daily that people who have been trained in thinking, just like the body has muscle memory, will instinctively question an idea when they see it, regardless of whether the idea has been recognized by the majority of people.
Not only that, but students who are trained know how to look for first-hand information to validate the ideas they are exposed to. Su Zhan said that school education provides a framework for systematic knowledge, and each part of the framework needs to be supplemented by students themselves. How to supplement is also a skill that should be cultivated, and students need to learn to search quickly, find authoritative materials and corroborate them. And this ability can also be applied to question an event or opinion, and how to confirm or refute it.
However, he admits that many university students, including those studying philosophy, are unable to do so.
Guo Yingjian expressed a similar view. He believes that developing critical reading skills is key to enabling students to make better use of fragmented reading.
"The first is to learn how to assess the reliability and validity of information sources, especially when dealing with online information, which includes understanding the biases and writing purposes of different authors. Second, practice writing and debating to deepen your understanding and critical analysis of the readings. He said.
Technology traps make it easier to kidnap whom
In the concern about the fragmented reading of the student body, it is a common problem to indulge in it for a long time and neglect time management.
Prior to his master's degree, Huadong Wang had 3 years of work experience as a product manager, mainly engaged in legal and algorithm-related work. It was this experience that made him deeply aware that the biggest interference of fragmented reading for many students is actually the optimization goals and business models embedded in the platform's built-in recommendation system, which leads to these platforms being in a state of crazy reading recommendation all the time.
For example, Wang Huadong often looks for some evaluation information from the "Zhihu" platform as a reference. But he found that in the process, the system often recommended attention-grabbing content that wasn't itself the information he consciously wanted to get at the time, but that sometimes did arouse curiosity. So, he was brought in. This unexpected reading makes it increasingly expensive to stay focused and manage your time.
For another example, when he searched and researched some relatively broad topic information on the online platform, a novel suddenly popped up, and the system would display some sentences with a strong sense of conflict in order to make people click. Once the reader slacks off and clicks on the novel driven by curiosity, it is very easy to get immersed in it and detach from the original goal.
"People have a need to know a wide range of information, and in this case, a recommendation system for fragmented reading is a good detail. The problem is that when we concentrate our attention on the reading platform, the goal of system optimization is no longer to expand and expand, not for the long-term accumulation of readers' knowledge growth, but to improve the click-through rate in the short term, in order to bring you timely happiness, so as to obtain benefits. Wang Huadong believes that the reason why fragmented reading will make everyone addicted and lazy to think is very important is that the baton of the current recommendation system is wrong.
Wang Huadong also observed that the consumption of time by fragmented reading is often not a planned thing, but an unplanned thing, and when everyone is already in a less rational reading state, it is easier to be subject to algorithm recommendations.
And what Li Zhichun cares about is, which students are more likely to be kidnapped by this technological trap?
In fact, there is no essential difference between indulging in fragmented reading and indulging in various forms of entertainment. He believes that behind the problem is the lack of internal motivation and sense of purpose in the study and life of college students, and the "self" is very unclear.
"They don't know what they like and what they want to pursue. Because in the past, their only goal was to go on to higher education, which is why many students start to have revenge pleasures when they enter college. Li Zhichun said bluntly.
Just imagine, if our college students are a group of young people with intrinsic learning motivation, good self-learning ability, and rich hobbies, they will not be easily constrained by all kinds of shallow, instant gratification content on the Internet, and at least be able to reflect on it in a timely manner.
"Unfortunately, the current education model has not been able to produce more of these students, and this is where education itself needs to be reflected. Li Zhichun emphasized.
Reading starts with getting used to the normalcy of life
Fragmented reading has both positive and negative effects. Su Zhan is more inclined to believe that the critique of fragmented reading is a new manifestation of the "good old days syndrome". In society, every once in a while, there is an assertion that "××× will destroy the next generation", from movies and television in the past, to video games and mobile phones, but it turns out that they are not flood beasts, and people should not be so panicked.
For college students, no one will regard fragmented reading as a major channel for deep learning, let alone as a replacement for traditional professional learning, it is just a new way to expand knowledge. And, most of the time, students use fragmented reading to relax their brains.
"In a broader sense, most people don't set too much purpose for reading itself, except for professional learning, it can be driven by curiosity, it can be a search for emotional resonance, and occasionally unconsciously 'addicted' to certain content, as for the form and way of reading can be chosen according to personal preferences and habits. In Li Zhichun's view, this is precisely the norm in life.
"When we try to promote reading as a way of life, we should first adapt it to the norm, rather than looking up to the 'saints' and emphasizing the need to read the classics, read systematically, read completely, or how many books must be read in a year. ”
Li Zhichun said that in reading education, he values that students can value and appreciate their own emotions and emotional experiences. "As long as a person survives, there must be emotions, and if you catch your emotions, you can grasp the clues of reading, and with the clues, there must be texts that interest you. ”
He hopes that students' reading choices can follow the emotions and emotions in their lives at the moment, and this reading process is like revealing secrets, looking for answers, and finding out what they are thinking and wanting. Reading that responds to oneself is a kind of reading that is rewarding and more likely to be liked.
At the same time, he also emphasized that it is not necessary to regard the source and form of reading content too important, when we look at the whole world as a text, books are just one of the carriers.