Last time we took a very brief look at the evolution of the English language. This time around I thought it would be fun to take a peek at just how the way we read those words has changed over the years — or has it?

Early efforts at “writing” included symbols and letters on things like cave walls, stone tablets and papyrus. The evolution of the printing press, of course, quickly introduced books to the masses. And even in the face of today’s technology, books remain a staple of reading enjoyment for many of us.

Why? Because we enjoy the tactile feel of a book — the turning of its pages, the feel of the paper and the physical weight of a bound volume. All this physicality leads us to focus our attention on the linear progression of the book’s narrative. Because of the simplicity of words printed on the page, our engagement relies on us using our memory and imagination to paint a picture described by those words.

This brings us to the technology of the present, the age of the internet, which contains in its electrons all the wonderful information we have time (or make time) to read and watch. Unfortunately this ubiquitous technology has also unleashed torrents of misinformation and disinformation on us via social media – not to mention what it’s done to our ability to read and comprehend all that information, good or bad.

Concern about the dangers of new technology is nothing new. In his new book “The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource,” author Chris Hayes notes that even before English was in its infancy, Plato had written in “Phaedrus” about how Socrates cautioned his countrymen of the dangers of writing. “If men learn it,” Socrates warned, “it will implant forgetfulness in their souls: They will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves but by means of external marks.”

And back when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1439, he was able to crank our 250 single-sided sheets per hour. This caused a panic similar to the one in which we currently find ourselves, says Hayes. “The cheap printing technology of the late nineteenth century that gave rise to paperbacks and dime-store novels occasioned one critic to decry the genre publisher for ‘poisoning society . . . with his  smutty stories and impure example . . . .’”

On the bright side of high tech, E-readers, tablets and smartphones have made vast libraries accessible at our fingertips, democratizing reading as never before. Readers also often have access to handy tools such as adjustable font sizes and built-in dictionaries to enhance their reading experiences.

Meanwhile, the massive amount of online content — such as blogs, articles and social media posts — has fostered a culture of skimming and scanning. The sheer volume of information on the internet encourages quick consumption at the expense of deep reading and critical analysis. When you add to that the barrage of notifications, hyperlinks and multimedia distractions, it’s no wonder we are losing our ability to navigate our way through texts in the traditional linear fashion. It’s no wonder that we often can’t focus on something long enough to think a complete thought about it.

Maybe it all comes down to what we want to get from our varied reading experiences. Someone looking to be entertained will willingly take the clickbait and go happily down the hyperlink rabbit hole due to their fear of missing out on the latest thing.

Others concerned with more serious endeavors such as doing research or taking an online class will take a different approach. Such activities will require the use of traits such as focused reading habits, critical analysis and being able to leverage the benefits of the technology. In other words, what you get out of reading our wonderful language depends on what you put into it.