Tags
Last week in one of the many library email newsletters I received at work I came across a link for an iPhone/iPad app created by the King County Library System. King County is in Washington. The city of Seattle is in King County. Someone in their library system made an app called Readometer.
Basically the Readometer is a time clock. It can keep track of more than one person (but not all at the same time), and keeps stats for you. What’s the point? Well, you can find out how much time you really spend reading. You can also set goals, say, for an hour. At the end of an hour the clock will chime and ask you if you want to read for another hour (yes please!). If you get interrupted, you can pause the clock and resume again later.
The app is free and I figured, why not? It might be an interesting experiment. All was going along well until I sat down to read Sunday afternoon to find everything had been reset. So, I began again. And from Sunday until now I have spent 5 hours 40 minutes reading. Not having anything to compare this to, I don’t know if it is a lot or a little for me. I figure I will continue the experiment for a month so I will have four weeks of reading to compare. What might happen next is I will want to compare month-to-month. But I might not. Let’s not jump ahead.
I have never kept track of the time I spend reading before, have only ever guessed. My guess has always been that I read for 1 ½ to 2 hours a day Monday through Friday, 3-4 hours on Saturday, and 2-3 hours on Sunday. When I started over on Sunday I had not done any reading yet for the day and ended up reading for two hours. Monday I read for 1 hour 10 minutes and Tuesday for 1 hour 35 minutes. So far today I have read for 55 minutes. Now, I am running this app on my iPad and I do not take it wherever I go so I have been doing some extra timekeeping outside the app.
I have so far noticed a few interesting things about timing my reading. The first time I set the clock and started reading I was a bit anxious! Anxious? Why? I have no idea, it was such a surprising feeling. Perhaps initially the timer stirred up memories of standardized testing. Even though I have always been a good reader, I hated the reading comprehension portions of timed testing. Reader me wants to read slowly and absorb the language, enjoy the story, you know, read. But testing doesn’t want you to read for pleasure. The test wants you to read fast for information only and then answer the 3-5 multiple choice questions and move on. This always stressed me out because inevitably there would be one or two really long passages and I would lose my purpose-driven focus and start reading and end up arguing with the questions and before I’d know it I had “wasted” time.
Thankfully the initial anxious feeling over the timer gave way pretty fast. It gave way to fidgeting. I’d find myself wondering how much was left on the timer, hasn’t it been 30 minutes yet? Is it working okay or does my iPad battery need to be charged? When did 30 minutes start taking so long? Even 15 minutes felt like a long time. And I started to worry there was something wrong with me and maybe the internet really has ruined my attention span.
All this happened last week in the first days of using the timer before it somehow reset which was probably good in the whole scheme of things. Now, it is no big deal having the timer going while I read. If anything I find I get more annoyed at interruptions. I find I like setting the timer for short increments like 15 minutes so I can hit the “keep reading” button when the chime sounds. Tapping that button multiple times feels somehow decadent, like I am getting away with something.
I will report back in a month for sure, maybe with an update at two weeks. I am curious to see what the results will be.
Ok, I cannot wait to find out how your experiment with this goes! Sounds very cool. Your reaction reminded me of when I first did one of the read-a-thons from the blogosphere. I kept thinking how can I not read for hours, I love to read, but I found I was distracted a lot by the notion of keeping track of hours read. Have fun and can’t wait to hear more about this!
LikeLike
An interesting experiment but surely it makes for making for a meeting-the-target mentality and also doesn’t take in that important aspect of reading – snatching the odd 10 minutes or so. Thinking about how many books you have got through this year is even worse – I gave that up and am glad of it!
LikeLike
Ian, since it is only a matter of curiosity with no target in view the timer isn’t having an impact on how often I read or how long and I still snatch the odd 10 minutes here and there. In fact, I am finding that much of my reading during the week is short bursts.
LikeLike
Iliana, yes! First time I did a 24-hour readathon I had the same trouble. Planned to read for hours without stopping but I found I stopped quite a lot for various reasons. I am finding having the timer going makes me pay more attention to all the things I am doing when I say I am reading. It is really interesting.
LikeLike
How interesting. While reading your post I compared the reading app to a recent running experience. I have my first 5k race on Saturday and have been training. Last Saturday, I timed myself on a practice run. Knowing I was “racing the clock” robbed me of the pleasure I usually get from running. I fear if I calculated my time spent reading, I would feel pressure to read faster. But the “keep reading” button does sound like a nice treat! I’m curious to read of your future results.
LikeLike
Vanessa, the first few days I felt pressure with the timer going but that has passed and all my initial anxiety is gone since my brain has finally understood there is no deadline, there is no grade, etc. What I am finding surprising now is just how long 15 or 20 minutes of reading is.
LikeLike
Very cool, but I would also be fearful of the comprehension questions!
LikeLike
rhapsody, well thank goodness I don’t have to worry about comprehension questions any more! 🙂
LikeLike
Sounds interesting! I’ll be interested to see whether measuring your reading affects the amount that you read. Measuring often has an effect like that. I’m not sure I’d like it – one reason I read books is to get away from apps and bells and buttons. But probably if I used it, I’d end up loving it. Not a possibility, though, because my phone is super-dumb.
LikeLike
Andrew, So far I have not noticed that I am reading any more or less than usual nor am I reading any faster or slower. I feel like more than anything it is making me aware of my reading habit in a way I haven’t been before. But quantum physics says observation alters the thing being observed so I imagine the timer does have at least a minimal effect.
LikeLike
Interesting! I’m looking forward to your updates. I’ve experimented with ReadTracker (which has some similarities, by the sounds of it) and I agree that there is a different kind of awareness that emerges. I haven’t been very methodical with it, but different ways of tracking fascinate me too.
LikeLike
buriedinprint, I think ReadTracker and the Readometer would work really well for kids who are supposed to read a certain amount for school. For me, it is a matter of curiosity and the app makes it easy and sort of fun.
LikeLike
I will be so very interested to know how you get on. But I think it’s probably for the best if I don’t time myself reading. Or at least don’t let Mr Litlove know what the figures look like! 🙂
LikeLike
Litlove, LOL, I bet Mr. Litlove already has a pretty good sense of how much time you spend reading, at least when he is around. 😉
LikeLike
How fun–that would have been perfect for me over the weekend as I was trying to get in as much reading as I possibly could–it would be interesting to see just how much is a lot (or little). I have neither ipad or iphone, so I don’t think I’ll get to experiment–but then again, like you, I wonder if I would feel a little anxious, too, like I was being tested for how fast not how much I was reading. I’m curious to hear how much over the course of the month you read. I tend to get in more reading time during the week and less (strangely) on weekends–there is something about being at home and getting involved in chores, plus Saturdays are all about errands–drag. You’ll have to let us know how much it all works out to at the end of the month!
LikeLike
Danielle, You know, I thought I read more on weekends than it turns out I do. Or maybe this past weekend was just a fluke? I have a few more weekends to test it out.
LikeLike
Hi Stefanie,
You are able to track multiple readers at the same time in the READometer. The timer is unique to each Reader you set up, so you do need to set their individual timers separately.
Have fun!
LikeLike