AsurveyonreadinghabitsreleasedbytheChineseAcademyofPressandPublicationinmid-Aprilshowsthat73percentofChineseadultsreaddigitally,viaonline,mobile,digitalreadersandsmartpads,comparedto68.2percentin2016.Expertspointoutthatthemajorpartofthisfallsinthecategoryoflightandfragmentedreading.
Fragmentedreadingreferstoreadersonlygettingincompleteandintermittentinformation,especiallyfromdigitalbooksviasmartphonesandotheronlineterminals.XuShengguo,DirectorofAppliedTheoryStudiesInstituteoftheChineseAcademyofPressandPublication,whochairedthesurvey,notedthatfragmentaryinformationismainlyfromshortcontentsonplatformssuchasWeibo,FacebookandTwitter,aswellasshortpiecesbrokendownfromlongarticles,whichcanbereadinfragmentarytime.
Therehavebeendebatesonwhetherfragmentedreadingshouldbeencouraged.Somepeoplebelievethatfragmentedreadingcanenablereaderstobetterutilizetheirshortfreetimetoobtainknowledge.Forthem,fragmentedreadingisthetrendofthefuture.
Butthosewhoareagainstitthinksuchahabitwillnegativelyimpactpeople鈥檚abilityofindependentthinkingastheycannotgetin-depth,critical,rationalandsystematicknowledgethroughreadingsimpleandfragmentaryinformation.
pros
ZhaoJianmin
ProfessorofShanghaiUniversity
Thankstofragmentaryinformation,readerscanaccessaseaofknowledgerapidlyanywhereandatanytime.Inaddition,readerscaninteractwiththeauthorsontheirdigitalterminals.Inthissense,itrepresentsthefuturedevelopmenttrendofreadingintheInternetera.Readersonlyneedtofocusontheinformationtheyareinterestedinandconvenientlysharetheinformationwiththeirfriendsviasocialmedia.Thisway,socializedinformationsharingcanhelpreadersstudy,thinkandexchangeviews.Inaddition,fragmentedreadingcanhelppopularizeknowledge.BecauseinformationontheInternetisvastinquantity,readersareabletoaccessinformationanywhereandatanytime.
ZhangWei
Founderofwe-mediawww.shixiang.xin
Fragmentedreadingisasaviorofourcurrentsocietyasitsgreatestcontributionistoencouragepeopletoreadintheirdailylife.Whatmakespeoplepowerfulisnotreadingitself,butpeople鈥檚thinkingandemotionstriggeredbydailyreading.Comparedwithlongarticlesorbigbooks,fragmentaryinformationcancovermuchlargerareasandprovideasmuchinformationaspossibleforreaderswithinalimitedtimeframe.Inthissense,fragmentaryinformationismoreimportantfordailyreading,whilesystematicknowledge,usuallygainedthroughintensivereadingisimportantforhandingdownknowledgefromgenerationtogeneration.IntheeraoftheInternet,peoplecanhaveabrand-newwayofreadingbytakingfulladvantageoffragmentedreadingfeaturingconvenienceandefficiency.
NieZhenning
HainanDaily
Throughouthumanhistory,people鈥檚readinghabitsconsistoftwomajorparts:fragmentedreadingandin-depthreading,bothofwhichareimportant.Forexample,TheAnalectsofConfucius,writtenbyConfucius鈥檚tudentsmorethan2,500yearsago,andTheRepublic,byPlato,arecompliedwithfragmentaryinformation.Theyarestillthegreatestworkstoday.Thefragmentaryinformationalsodidnotinfluencetheemergenceoflargeamountsoflongarticlesand,onthecontrary,itgreatlyencouragedpeople鈥檚intensivereading.Readinganewspaperisalsoakindoffragmentedreading.TheriseofthenewspaperindustryhasgreatlyencouragedtheliterarydevelopmentinmodernChina,givingrisetonumerousmodernclassicalworks.China鈥檚nationalreadingratioiscomparativelylowworldwide.Fragmentedreadingisanefficientwaytoencouragepeopletoread.
cons
HaoJianguo
AssociateEditorinChiefofHebeiEducationPublishHouse
AsawayofreadingintheInternetera,fragmentedreading,strictlyspeaking,ismorelikebrowsing,notreading.Withoutintegrated,consistentandin-depthcontents,fragmentaryinformationcanonlyprovidesuperficialknowledge.Astheinformationisunsystematicallycomplied,readersusuallysoonforgetwhattheyhaveread.
Fragmentedreadingcanonlyprovidetemporaryandshortpieceinformation.Inthepast,peopleneededtoreadalotofbooksbeforetheycouldgettheinformationtheywantedoranswerstotheirquestions.Actually,throughthisprocess,thoughquitelong,readersgreatlyexpandtheirknowledge,enhancetheirunderstandinganddigestmoreinformation.
FengXu
Founderofwww.xinli001
Iamagainstfragmentedreadingasithasseveraldemerits.Firstofall,itcanmakepeoplelazyinreadingpaper-basedbookstostudyin-depthknowledge.Themainpurposeoffragmentaryinformationisnotforspreadingknowledge,butforattractingInternetusers鈥檃ttentionsoastogethigherclick-throughrate.Thus,thefragmentaryinformationontheInternet,usuallywithattractiveheadlines,aimsatarousingreaders鈥檈motionsinsteadofmakingthemthinkindependently.
Second,unsystematicknowledgecanharmpeople鈥檚reasoningprocess.Fragmentaryinformationcannotprovidepeoplewithin-depthandcomprehensiveknowledge,butsomeshallowandsimplesuggestions.Readerscannotgetasenseoffulfillmentthroughfragmentaryviewpoints.
ZhangQuanmin
TeacherfromZhejiangProvince
Asateacher,Iworryverymuchaboutmystudents鈥檉ragmentedreadinghabitsandtheone-dimensionalwayofthinkingitbringsabout.Formanyyoungstudentsnotwellcapableofthinkingindependentlyandmakingappropriatejudgment,fragmentedreadingisnotawayforthemtoimprovethemselves,butawayofshallowandvulgarentertainment.
Becauseoftheconvenienceofdigitalinformation,studentsusuallyfirstturntotheInternetforsolutionswhentheyfacechallenges.Buttheylackthecapacityofmakingjudgmentsindependentlyandselectingthecorrectinformation,whichcouldgivethemthewrongmessagethattheycouldsolveanyproblems.
So,studentsshouldstayawayfromfragmentedreadingandimprovethemselvesthroughin-depthandintensivereading.