Ever try using a sheet of paper to force yourself to slow down while reading a book? You use the sheet of paper to cover the unread portion of the page (aside from the current line, obviously) to prevent your eyes from skimming ahead.
I remember seeing kids with reading problems doing this in grade school.
Much to my chagrin (and amusement!) I now find it very useful for myself. Prevents me from reading so quickly that I absorb nothing.
It's hard for me to switch between skimming and reading intently. If I've been browsing news aggregator sites, I have to consciously slow down and stop skipping around when I sit down to read a book. Personally it's not as hard as what Wolf describes.
Seems there is a psychological effect at play. I imagine a social ritual of standing and reading something that is always in-focus requiring no scrolling is far more appealing.
It isn’t just to limit page size, it also works as a damper on heated discussions, as most people won’t read more than the first page, but comparatively few people stop reading in the middle of a page, regardless of length.
The website is using something called BeeLine Reader that's supposed to help people keep their place while reading or read faster. Personally, I find it makes text more difficult to read, but some people like it.
This isn't a particularly good idea for competent readers who typically scan entire blocks of sentences at a time. The scrolling effect just slows them down.
I seriously wonder if a person exists that likes being bothered when they're trying to read something? If that's not the case, and in fact nobody likes this, why anyone would think that this was a good idea?
I think most of it is just that you know you can easily switch to watching Youtube instead of reading, rather than actual physical act of reading on a glass screen.
I also think reading is like a muscle, I find it very difficult to even read a paper book. I'll often make it half way down a page and realize I have no memory of actually reading it.
The disadvantage of this technique is that you lose tactile intuition on how much of the material is remaining. And once you start on the second half of pages, you lose tactile intuition on how much you have read.
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