Speed-listening: the new speed-watching
Everyone has heard of 'speed-watching', and most people likely have used it at (the very) least once. I am guilty; and I feel bad for doing so. But I also know I am not the only one accelerating some of the videos on my social media feeds. I had used similar functions when watching long videos on Youtube or e-classes, and every time I did it, I knew I was not fully grasping the concept of whatever was being presented to me. I failed online tests after watching lectures to 2.0x speed, result that is not unique to me, according to research. Some people go as far as watching TV shows and movies in higher speeds, which goes way beyond my comprehension of media consumption. The 'trend' that started with Gen Zs and Millenials (I am not proud to be associated with this trend) is now everywhere and seems to have infected people of all ages.
The question is: have you ever heard about 'speed-listening'? All audiobook platforms have the option to accelerate the audio, just like Youtube. I use Libby regularly to listen to audiobooks, and I remember how taken aback I was when I first discovered the option, years ago. I have used it a handful of times to finish books that were due, or because I needed to know the plot as fast as possible (every mystery reader knows the feeling). However, I've never dared to go above the 1.5x acceleration, which already made me feel extremely over-stimulated after an hour or so of listening.
Jode Keehr and Richard Reardon's research on speed-watching effects and potential complications in learning environments questioned exactly why we should be concerned about this new trend: "Speed-watching could negatively impact all aspects of memory performance, i.e., attention, working memory, storage and retrieval, elaboration, and metamemorial – or metacognitive – processes. The term metamemory refers to one's understanding of, and ability to monitor and control, their memory processes."
It is no news that the mental activity we require to properly process information might not be available to us when we are doomscrolling on social media; but the same could be happening while listening to a book, especially if the speed is high and we are trying to multitask. Yes, I love listening to books while I cook or clean - I feel like the queen of multitasking. I believe the issue starts when the listening is in higher-than-normal speed, added to the thousand other activities, or distractions, happening all around you, like answering to emails at work or trying to prepare for a meeting while also overloading your brain with a historical novel.
Some readers speak a little slower, and there is no shame here to accelerate the speed to 1.25x if you are annoyed at the slow pace of the story. But once in a while, taking a step back and listening to anything on its normal speed might be a good "detox" to the mind. As a Brazilian, I receive a lot of audio messages daily, and for the longest time only listened to these on 1.5x or 2x speed. Over a year ago, I made a point to not speed up my friend's stories, tales or gossip anymore. It was almost like a new year resolution for me. I wanted to savor their breaths, their breaks to laugh, or to think of the right word when telling me something. My daily texting to my fellow Brazilians has changed abruptly since, as I feel much more present when I am listening to their messages, and I tend to remember these stories for much longer after.
Speeding up videos, podcasts, messages and audiobooks is a reflection of our impatience with time, caused by the constant dopamine rushes we receive. Our attention span being shrunken daily by the absurd amount of news and other content we consume. We never have to wait, or do the humbling work, to obtain a goal. Deciding to slow down is not only a necessity for our overworked brains, but a way to protest the ever-speeding-up lifestyle the world is expecting everyone to adapt to. As expressed by Psych-pedagogue and Professor Sylvie Perez Lima: "Realizing that we may be misusing this technique and turning it into a 'trend' should also help us create a space to stop and think. Analyze if we are really buying time or we have simply entered a circle of endless consumption in a world that moves too fast."
I've recently read Amanda Montell's book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, where in each chapter Amanda unravels a different topic such as cognitive biases, overconfidence, and the halo effect. As an overthinker myself, I recommend this read. And it is with one of Amanda's quotes that I finish my post today: "Modern productivity dogma encourages us to act fast, and milk our exceptionalism for all it's worth. Under that kind of pressure, perhaps the truest rebellion is to embrace our ordinariness. In everyday life, if we could not only tolerate the discomfort, but wholeheartedly embrace our own lack of expertise, then we might have a far better chance of showing others the same grace. Then perhaps life might feel, at the very least, less agitating, at most, we might even find peace."
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