How to Read in a Digital Age

“The Purpose of Reading. The purpose of reading is to connect the ideas on the page to what you already know. If you don’t know anything about a subject, then pouring words of text into your mind is like pouring water into your hand. You don’t retain much.” Donald Martin, How to be a Successful Student, 1991

Table of Contents

Print as a Medium is Dead

I remember seeing the class title, Reading Comprehension throughout middle school and maybe some of highschool. I never understood why they didn’t call the class, English Literature, or just “Reading”; now I know.

Reading comprehension is the intentional act of engaging with what is being provided by an author.

It’s not enough to merely consume the title of an article, you have to get critical about what is being expressed. Especially in the age of Fake News when even the Newseum in Washington, DC is shutting down, you really can’t trust the headlines. You have to go deeper.

A Copy of a Copy

If you ever copied a paper over and over again, you start noticing that quality fades and the picture gets darker and often blurrier.

If you had to take one thing away from this article, remember this:

The Headline is to get you to click for Ad revenue. That very headline is often produced by a caffeinated once-aspiring journalist with principles reduced to a person trying to pay their bills. And it’s all likely a rehash of a previously posted article that everyone conveniently forgets.
The article associated with the Headline is likely based on an opinion, inference or interpretation based on
A report from a Think Tank or a Ph.D. student who obsessed over one topic for years, who based it off of,
Supporting articles, interviews, and other reports from other sources who are also biased and it goes downhill rapidly.

Sex Sells And Other Things

Print media like most modern media rely on a couple of tropes. Sex indeed sells, or particularly sexual deviance. Check this water ad by Jada Pinkett Smith (sure to titillate you).

Nothing gets more views and is more salacious in the details than:

Sexual perversion in a sexually repressed nation. Game of Thrones was popular a developing Sexposition in the first three seasons. There are other things that sell.
“Black people vs White people”, or “White people vs Black people” will always get clicks in America. Racism is only second to PornHub in the United States. Here’s how you can spot it. If a white cop did anything to a minority group; highlight the rare occasion as if it was a daily occurrence. If the cop is not white say, “Police Officer victimizes Person X”, the audience will subconsciously replace “police” with “white”.
Money fears are still an amazing way to make a quick buck. At this rate the recession will hit tomorrow, next week, right now… or just about anytime.
Fear of the other gripes the mind such as Muslim anything in the 90s and now China everything in 2010s. And finally,
Celebrity worship. I seriously don’t care what Beyonce did or didn’t do. Nor what the England Duke and Duchesse are doing at this time or any time in the future, but we will know. The media will not stop until we are constantly updated. Trump (definitely) falls into that category.

Imagine a headline and story that featured, “US President Trump having sex with a Black woman while smoking $100 bills.”

The Scandal! Print it.

So What’s the Headline?

The article that inspired this rant, Millennials earn 20% less than baby boomers did—despite being better educated. While the author, Megan Leonhard isn’t delving into fake news territory; but she is definitely straddling the line of outrage media. Her focal point, the old Millennials vs the Boomer Generation. The “old vs young” is an evergreen narrative. Here’s how you should read in modern times:

Remember that the title is only after your outrage. It doesn’t seek to either create solutions or outright challenge you to change. I don’t even think that articles lately want you to change or read it. It favors fast information, quick tags, and quotable narratives that will support you in your next ill-informed debate.
First, read the article thoroughly. Understand that this is just the current author’s opinion. Now here’s the tricky part; click on the highlight parts specifically the stuff that says reports and findings.

Highlight in your mind the premise of the next article or report. If you can’t do that simply write them down, no rush. Find the actual full report which is often multiple pages long and riddled with more articles and reports to read.

Challenge yourself through self-education. Find out the authors, look them up. Read their other works. Do they have an angle? Do they have a story or general narrative to impart to the reader? Are they an expert or are they merely paraphrasing correctly or incorrectly the expert’s ideas?
When you finally to the source material, is the final narrative the same as the first headline?

The Truth about How we Read and Intepret

The headline said Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers. That’s not accurate. Millennials are more educated than previous generations. Just like every other generation was more educated than the preceding ones. Turns out most employed Millennials are making more than their parents. Some by a long shot.

If you went to college thinking just because you went there and performed at a mediocre level, you somehow deserved a C-Suite job… Let me break this to you in Barney‘s terms.

Assessing Your Competition

You are competing against the best in your age range and the best generations that came prior to you, and those ultimately follow you. On top of that, you are competing globally. You might feel entitled to a job but those other people are just as entitled and might be way more qualified. Just a thought.

Why do millennials feel financially squeezed?

Society has changed. Our expenses have morphed into subscriptions. We add on more on contingency ie consumer debts. Generally, we are living beyond our means. Church attendance decrease drastically. Family engagement also failed. Ultimately, we worship at the altar of social media.

We opt to extend being young and free vs focusing on getting into a family and buying a home. Quite simply, we changed and it’s costing us more than we think.

Turns out, as a Financial Therapist; marriage is a great way to build wealth. Not a marriage of convenience (or bare minimum tolerances) but truly a positive and equally-yoked marriage is one of the best mental health support therapy that you will ever find.

But this might just be an opinion of an opinion, of an article, of a report. Seriously though, trust but verify your sources. I’d suggest reading Millennial life: How young adulthood today compares with prior generations, by Kristen Bialik and Richard Fry from February 14, 2019. Wait didn’t I tell you that most articles are regurgitation…

Ha! A copy of a copy indeed.