Like many, I’ve been reading various blogs and online magazines for a long time. And I’ve noticed a consistent pattern among people who leave comments (or write comparative articles) that seems to be growing more widespread at a near exponential level (likely related to the number of websites that are being created every day).
I hate to break it to you, but people rarely completely read articles anymore. I mean REALLY read. Like what we used to do with magazines while sitting in the waiting room at the Doctor’s office. They skim through it as quickly as possible. And they certainly don’t read any of the comments made before they got there. It’s become obvious from the context of what people are writing.
People are moving too fast through the blogs to truly appreciate the value and meaning of the information that they just inhaled before taking five minutes to knee-jerk out some weird comment, or focusing on one small detail without grasping the big picture. Really reading the context of an article seems like such a waste of time!
It’s likely that as we are bombarded with exponentially higher amounts of information in our feed readers (regardless of the quality of that information, which can still be very high), the audience feels the need to consume it faster to make room for the next batch to roll in. But because this is the internet, the information rolls in at a rate higher than anyone can digest at the volume needed to balance the load. It’s not that people are being force-fed the information, but that their own greed in consuming as much as possible, as quickly as possible, hoping to be one of the first to either read or even write the next great heavily-linked article, is self-forcing a mental gag-reflex.
Skim. Comment. Move on. It’s the way of the blog!
Then, there’s the secondary motive related to attention and/or awareness. While the first reason to read an article is to take something of personal value away from it, that can be used somehow in work or life, the second is quite the opposite: To leave a fingerprint behind with the intent of gaining attention or awareness of others by what their comment says. It’s ironic that even if the comment has value, most people will skim it anyway, hoping to leave behind their own bit of value that they deem more important. To impart some bit of trivial wisdom in that moment that they hope will bring people to their site looking for more bits of trivial wisdom, or to even gain favor from the author him/herself.
My advice: slow it down. If you have doubts over what you just read, or are not exactly sure what the author meant, then by all means read it again. And before you leave a comment, please be courteous to your fellow readers/commentors and see what wisdom they’ve imparted. You might be surprised that more people think like you (or vehemently disagree) than you might realize. An open mind is a good thing.
P.S. There are no bad questions. ;-)