How Deep Reading Can Counter Misinformation and Doomscrolling

The typical American looks at their phone more than 140 times each day, spending an average of 4.5 hours on it, while 57% say they are "addicted" to their phone.

Technology firms, influencers and other creators are all vying for this attention, creating incentives for misinformation to spread.

In such a difficult information environment, robust critical reading skills are as important and essential as ever.

Yet literacy remains a major worry. Reading-comprehension results have kept falling. Most Gen Z parents do not read aloud to their young children, seeing it as a chore. Many university students are unable to finish a whole book.

With limitless feeds and effortless options to repost and share material, social media platforms are built to foster passive engagement, often used to ease boredom and avoid stress.

As a cognitive scientist and a literacy specialist, we study how people process information when they read. Our research leads us to believe that deep reading can help counter misinformation while also easing stress and loneliness.

Moving beyond a quick skim can be difficult, but strategies are available to build these vital reading abilities.

Deep reading versus doomscrolling

People turn to smartphones and social media for many purposes: relieving boredom, seeking attention, forming connections and sharing news. Having an endless supply of information immediately available can cause information overload, disrupting attention and decision-making.

Cognitive-science research offers an explanation for the way scrolling conditions the brain towards passive thought.

To hold users' attention, social-media algorithms supply content resembling material they have previously engaged with, using similar posts to reinforce existing beliefs. Seeing information repeatedly makes it seem more believable, particularly when it is repeated by multiple sources. This phenomenon is known as illusory truth.

By contrast, deep reading is the deliberate practice of engaging with information critically, analytically and empathetically. It includes making inferences, identifying connections, considering varied viewpoints and challenging potential interpretations.

Deep reading does demand work. It may prompt unpleasant emotions, including irritation and confusion, and can often feel uncomfortable. This raises an important question: Why would anybody opt for the demanding work of deep reading when scrolling and skimming are so readily available?

Motivating mental effort

Unthinking scrolling can bring unintended effects. Smartphone and social-media use are linked with greater boredom and loneliness, while doomscrolling is associated with increased existential anxiety and misanthropy.

Conversely, although attention and effort can be draining, they can enhance a person's sense of purpose and reinforce social bonds. People are also encouraged to complete activities that advance their personal aims, particularly when others recognise those efforts. Sharing books may therefore be one way to encourage deep reading.

For instance, a teacher can lead pupils through longer works, such as novels, alongside active discussions that strengthen comprehension and interpretation. Debate continues over the practice of assigning extracts rather than complete books in schools, but evidence indicates that sustained reading in social settings can foster a lifelong enjoyment of reading.

Keeping social connection in view, social media itself can serve as a constructive tool. BookTok is a popular online community in which people use TikTok to discuss and recommend books. Enthusiasts share detailed analyses of "K-Pop Demon Hunters" and other films or programmes, showing that close analysis still belongs within social media's endless scroll.

Slowing yourself down to read deeply

You can take practical steps to engage meaningfully with the continuous flow of information you encounter. Naturally, this can be demanding, and everyone has only limited effort and attention to give. It is important both to acknowledge finite cognitive resources and to choose deliberately how to use them.

Merely recognising how digital reading habits influence the brain can promote new attitudes and behaviours around information consumption. Even pausing can make people less vulnerable to misinformation. Spending a few additional seconds consciously assessing information can offset illusory truth, suggesting that deliberately slowing down, even slightly, can help.

Reading deeply involves deliberately deciding when to read at different speeds and slowing down when necessary to work through challenging passages, appreciate memorable prose, assess information critically and consider a text's meaning. Rather than simply extracting information, it means beginning a dialogue with the text.

Being aware does not require you to stop doomscrolling after a long day. It does, however, mean recognising the need to spend more time with a single text and to encounter different perspectives.

Begin modestly, perhaps with poetry, short stories or essays, then progress to longer works. Team up with a friend or family member and set yourselves the target of reading a complete novel or nonfiction book.

Reach that target in manageable sections, perhaps by reading a chapter each day and talking about it with your reading partner. Deep-reading practice, including reading novels, can expose you to fresh ideas and perspectives to explore with others in conversation, face to face or even on TikTok.

JT Torres, Director of the Harte Center for Teaching and Learning, Washington and Lee University and Jeff Saerys-Foy, Associate Professor of Psychology, Quinnipiac University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.