Full Circle

I've been reading newspapers regularly now for 12 years. The process began with the Boston Globe comics, then Ask the Globe (on the comics page), then the Living / Arts tidbits, then Ann Landers and other short bulletins in the Sci-Tech (later Health & Science) section. Later, the jump to Letters to the editor and the Op-Ed pages. In the past few years, the lengthy pieces in the sunday Magazine and Focus (now Ideas) held my interest.

But all that is rapidly reversing; the leisurely Sunday morning reading on the NYTimes and Globe has given way to a rushed skimming of long articles. I assume I know where the author is going and just skim to confirm or surprise myself. Is this a consequence of reading blogs? Or charts? Or writing that thesis, with its ponderous, style-free chain of thought?