TechTheDay

Many tend to believe that technology makes people lazy, that technology is making people have shorter attention spans not ideal in developing reading skills. Some claim that many are becoming averse to reading traditional books or longer texts because of the way technology is presenting reading material to readers. Well, it’s great to know that technology can actually help you improve your speed in reading without sacrificing comprehension. One company says you can actually finish reading a novel in 90 minutes.

What’s even better is that this technology is not something new to everyone. The technology is already in the current smartphone almost everyone already has. There is no breakthrough hardware or special software algorithms involved. The technology is simply based on extensive research on the human natural reading abilities and potentials. It is mainly about changing the way people read, by using a special way of presenting texts to the human eye.

Learn more about how this technology can help you read faster in the brief discussions below. You’d probably be blown away by how simple but effective it is.

1. The technology is called Spritz and it is actually accessible through a smartphone (or tablet computer) and simple mobile app.

Spritz, the name of both this reading enhancing technology and the company behind it, aims to provide people with a way to read faster without the need to do trainings. What is being offered is actually a simple idea backed by data obtained from research on how people can read more efficiently. It only involves a small electronic device for displaying texts and a digitized version of the reading material you want to read.

2. Yes, you only need a smartphone or tablet to access this technology and improve your reading speed.

The technology is the Spritz software itself, a result of studies on finding the best way to stream texts to the eyes to achieve better reading speeds without compromises on comprehension. Because it is simply in the form of a software, you can use it on almost any mobile computer or modern devices such as smartphones and tablets.

For now, the development of Spritz has been focused on the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Gear gadgets. It will be available on the said gadgets in the spring. Spritz is working with other companies to make the app available on other devices.

3. Achieve reading speeds of up to 1,000 words per minute.

Spritz relies on the concept of Optimal Recognition Point (ORP), which is the point in which the brain efficiently processes the information seen by the eyes. Spritz claims that almost 80% of the reading time is spent on physically moving the eyes to locate texts and transition to the next words, sentences, or blocks of texts. Only around 20% of actual reading time is said to be used on processing the information seen by the eyes.

Hence, by providing a format that eliminates the need for the eyes to move and transition through texts, reading speed can be increased by up to 5x. You can increase your reading speed to up to 1,000 words per minute.

4. Spritz is different from other fast reading systems because it’s easier and simpler to read with it.

Other fast reading systems depend on improving the human ability to see more and read more. They focus on training the eyes to be faster while increasing the brain’s ability to comprehend. With Spritz, it is more on enhancing natural human tendencies.

As Spritz reading proponents claim, people tend to focus on certain points or letters in words to quickly identify them. The arrangement of texts also has a significant influence on how fast words can be read and understood. That’s why Spritz is designed to show texts in a way that does not require the eyes to move, in a way that allows the eyes to easily identify the words by immediately seeing that point or letter that allows most people to more quickly identify words instead of reading them letter by letter or syllable by syllable.

5. Yes, Spritz makes you more dependent on technology to read faster.

Unfortunately, Spritz will be indirectly feeding the fear of Luddites. It is focused on the use of products of technology such as smartphones to enable faster reading. As such, advocates of traditional book reading, or the shunning of electronic gadgets to supposedly improve the natural human intelligence, will not be so pleased with Spritz.

6. It is not clear whether or not Spritz can also improve your reading speed when reading in a standard setup.

There have been no research conducted yet on the possible effects of Sprintz on normal reading setups. Will you be able to read a real physical book faster once you have been accustomed to reading via Sprintz? This is still up for investigation. For now, what is clear is that the way Sprintz makes people read offers a considerably palpable difference.

7. Will the Spritz format be the better way of showing information on TV instead of having information scrolling or crawling on the screen?

There have been no studies on this yet. However, it is important to remember that Spritz is designed to keep the attention of the person reading the texts. It is not intended for those who casually glance at the screen to read. It requires attention from start to finish. Hence, the Spritz method of displaying texts may not be that applicable for TV use.

For TV, scrolling and crawling texts provide the advantage of showing texts longer to catch the attention of those who may have not caught the information earlier, making them wait for the full text to be shown again in case they are interested in the little parts they have glimpsed. It works for the setup television is intended.

Of course, there’s no better way to prove if this technology really works than to actually try it. Head to the official Spritz website to try it yourself. The site features a simulation of how it works. You can set the speed of the texts being shown to up to 600 words per minute to see if you can comfortably read fast enough without losing comprehension.