Is chatting considered reading?

[Camilo]

I know that one is supposed to read, I know many of you do so extensively, but what about communicating in type, like chatting and posting, does it hold any value? Ever since I joined GA, I've physically read so many words and typed so many also, but does it have to be a book or a story for it to be considered "beneficial reading" or can just reading what other people write as their responses be also good for your brain, in comparison to just talking face to face or on the phone?

[Graeme]

Yes and no. One of the main beneficial purposes of reading is to expand the mind. That can be in vocabulary, grammar, or exposure to different styles of doing things (poetry, prose, and all their subcategories). General chatting has a minimal benefit in that respect.

 

Where it can be of benefit is to expand on your thinking, by reading different points of views on subjects, but again a lot of chats don't do that.

 

About the only strong benefit I can see is being able to deal with typos You get more misspelt words and poor grammar in chatting than you would in more traditional forms of reading material, so it helps improve your ability to comprehend something that isn't written well.

[*HJ*]

You might be able to consider it reading if your are chatting and using complete sentences and stuff. Mostly I agree with Graeme though. Reading a bunch of bad grammer and short hand text talk does not count as reading...just conversation.

[MalicSign]

I also have to agree with Graeme on this one. While it is still reading in the strict definition of the word, and thus exercises the same section of your brain that you would while reading your favorite novel or paper, it isn't to the same degree. With the amount of poor spelling and grammar that is common on the internet the larger merit of 'lighter reading' is lost.

[Toast]

Chat and posting have great value as communication. Reading is just not the best word to describe it.