I've mentioned this topic in a few posts near the launch of the blog, but it's about time that it made its return under a more official name, "mono-reading," which I'll define in this post. What exactly is this behavior, how can we avoid it, and what habits lead to it in the first place?
If you've ever made it to the bottom of a paragraph or page and then realized that you totally missed everything above, you have mono-read (a term I totally came up with, just to clarify). There is absolutely no reason to reproach yourself for this act— we've all done it and it can actually be an informative, reflective moment.
Finding time for reading can be a complicated endeavor. Nestling in a corner with a good book is a fortuitous occasion that doesn't come often nowadays. So, naturally enough, you've probably tried to force a few pages into your brain sporadically throughout a busy period, whether it be a novel, a newspaper article, or a quick story your friend sent you. In no way do I mean to imply that you won't succeed at taking advantage of your shortened period of immersive reading, but that you have an increased chance of mono-reading. When we deliberately attempt to read quickly under an acknowledged, shorter period of time, the chances of fully mentally interacting with every word decrease. Sometimes, this entails blowing through a whole paragraph and getting to the end without any of it sticking to your brain.
Another circumstance that can lead to mono-reading is a lack of attachment to the prose, either in general or at a particular moment. The content might begin to bore you as your mind ventures to more thrilling topic, then you suddenly realize that your eyes are making their way to the next page and you have no clue why the narrator has drastically shifted their mood. It's almost like an embarrassing interior misstep which you can keep to yourself since no one will ever know. Oftentimes, this type of mono-reading occurs after a challenging, tragic, or exciting event which distracts the reader from the words before them.
A final potential cause of mono-reading, much less common than the first two based on my experience, is becoming intrigued by the construction of the words rather than the significance of the text. I have sometimes become engrossed by the grammar or a particular author's stylistic choices and focused my attention on the length, complexity, or even shape of the words for an instant— enough to throw me off and realize that I missed a key moment.
There might be a chance that you think I'm overanalyzing the concept of reading and that none of these symptoms sound familiar in the slightest. If that's the case, that's awesome! I'm just giving a name to a feeling I sometimes get while reading and I would love to hear your thoughts about it. Does it happen more often when reading virtually or on physical pages? How long have you sometimes gone while missing the author's meaning? Which of the three causes above most correlates with your experience?
I'm all ears! Hope your summer is going well!
6/6/21