Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound

When the reading brain skims texts, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings or to perceive beauty. We need a new literacy for the digital age

• Maryanne Wolf
• The Guardian

Look around on your next plane trip. The iPad is the new pacifier for babies and toddlers.

Younger school-aged children read stories on smartphones; older boys don’t read at all, but hunch over video games.

Parents and other passengers read on Kindles or skim a flotilla of email and news feeds.

Unbeknownst to most of us, an invisible, game-changing transformation links everyone in this picture: the…

• Skim reading is…